US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a phone call on Friday that the escalation of tensions in the Middle East was “in the interest of neither party,” but at the same time stressed the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to the State Department.

After the recent assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas in Iran, and Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Hezbollah in Beirut, sparked threats of retaliation against Israel, there is an increased risk of escalation into a broader war in the Middle East.

Many therefore fear an expansion of the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, which has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and triggered a humanitarian crisis following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

“The Secretary reiterated the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and discussed that neither party has an interest in escalation,” the State Department said in a statement.

Blinken stressed the “urgent need to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza” that could lead to the release of hostages held in the enclave and “set the stage for broader regional stability,” the State Department added.

A day earlier, Gallant had spoken with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin about the situation in the region.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Israeli military assault on the Hamas-ruled enclave has since killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians while displacing almost its entire population of 2.3 million, triggering a hunger crisis and leading to accusations of genocide that Israel denies.

President Joe Biden put forward a proposal for a three-phase ceasefire in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried to arrange a ceasefire against hostages in the Gaza Strip, but have repeatedly encountered obstacles.