Top US diplomat Antony Blinken is set to meet Israeli leaders today as part of efforts to contain the conflict in Gaza, a day after strikes in Syria and Lebanon killed high-profile members of Hamas and its ally Hezbollah.

The visit comes as the Israeli military said its campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip was shifting into a new phase involving more targeted operations in the territory’s centre and south.

The repeated strikes in Lebanon and Syria, attacks against US forces in Iraq, and a campaign against shipping in the Red Sea by Yemeni rebels sympathetic to Hamas have all contributed to fears the Middle East could be dragged into all-out war.

In a bid to stave off that possibility, Blinken touched down in Tel Aviv late on Monday after stops in six other countries in his fourth crisis visit to the Middle East since the crisis began.

The secretary of state is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials, as well as war cabinet member and leading opposition figure Benny Gantz.