U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized the need for a diplomatic arrangement for the return of both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border in a call on October 9 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
Biden also condemned Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1, a White House statement said.
Biden "affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," the statement said.
Biden spoke with Netanyahu earlier about Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack last week, according to statements from both the White House and the Israeli prime minister's office on October 9.
The White House statement said Biden and Netanyahu "agreed to remain in close contact over the coming days both directly and through their national security teams."
The call comes amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel's expected response to Iran's largely ineffective missile attack, which Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel's escalation in Lebanon, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video published on Israeli media that Israel's response "will be deadly, precise, and above all surprising."
Biden last week said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites as part of its retaliation. He also said that, if he were in Israel's shoes, he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields.
SEE ALSO: Would An All-Out Israel-Iran War Send Oil Prices Skyrocketing?Israel has faced calls by the United States and other allies to accept a cease-fire deal in Gaza and Lebanon but has said it will continue its military operations until Israelis are safe.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller warned on October 9 that Israel must avoid conducting military operations in Lebanon like those it has conducted in Gaza.
"I'm making very clear that there should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza," Miller told journalists.
The White House statement said Biden and Netanyahu discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU. Biden also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the White House said.
Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza in recent days has killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials said.
Hezbollah, a group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its party, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
SEE ALSO: Palestinians Count The Toll Of Israel's Devastating War In GazaThe call between Biden and Netanyahu took place as Israeli forces stepped up their ground offensive against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
On October 9, Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters had used artillery and rockets against Israeli troops near the Lebanese border village of Labbouneh.
In a separate statement, the group said it engaged in combat with Israeli forces as they "attempted to infiltrate the border town of Blida" in southeast Lebanon.
The Israeli Army said early on October 9 that it had intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon as air-raid alarms sounded in and around Caesarea, a coastal city south of Haifa.
The latest fighting comes as fears grow of a larger conflict in the region after Israel also claimed that the successor to Nasrallah has likely been "eliminated."
Gallant said on October 8 that Hezbollah was an "organization without a head" and there's no one left to make decisions.
Netanyahu later echoed those comments, saying, "We've degraded Hezbollah's capabilities."
"We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah's replacement, and the replacement of the replacement," Netanyahu said.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official and a cousin of Nasrallah, was widely expected to be named to the group's top position, but his whereabouts and condition remain unknown since an October 2 Israeli strike on a suspected Hezbollah leadership meeting.
Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine's fate, although unidentified members have told various media that the group had lost contact with him since the attack.
Safieddine has been declared a global terrorist by the United States.