Israel ramped up its airstrikes Monday in Gaza, where the death toll is rising rapidly, and the United States advised Israel to delay an expected ground invasion to allow more time to negotiate the release of hostages taken by Hamas militants.

Israel has allowed two small aid convoys but no fuel to enter the besieged coastal enclave, where there has been a power blackout for nearly two weeks. Hospitals say they are scrounging for generator fuel in order to keep operating life-saving medical equipment and incubators for premature babies.

A premature baby squirms inside a glass incubator in the neonatal ward of al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip. He cries out as intravenous lines are connected to his tiny body. A ventilator helps him breathe as a catheter delivers medication and monitors flash his fragile vital signs.

His life hinges on the constant flow of electricity, which is in danger of running out imminently unless the hospital can get more fuel for its generators. Once the generators stop, hospital director Iyad Abu Zahar fears that the babies in the ward, unable to breathe on their own, will perish.

There is a confidence crisis between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leadership of his army while his relation with Defense Minister Yoav Galant is tense, which is hindering cooperation between them, an Israeli media report said.

Moreover, at least three ministers in the Israeli emergency government are considering resigning to force Netanyahu to bear responsibility for the security failure, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahraonot said Monday.

Israeli warplanes are striking Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive in the besieged territory. Fears of a widening war have grown as Israel struck targets in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon and traded fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.

Two aid convoys arrived in the Gaza Strip over the weekend through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. Israel said the trucks carried food, water and medical supplies. Israel has not allowed in fuel, which is critically needed for water and sanitation systems and hospitals.

The United States warned Iran or its allies against any "escalation" in the wake of Israel's war with Hamas, two top U.S. officials said, hours after the Pentagon moved to step up military readiness in the region.

With tensions mounting, Washington also announced Sunday it had ordered non-emergency staff to leave its embassy in Iraq.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced late Saturday he was sending additional air defense systems to the Middle East as well as putting more troops on prepare-to-deploy orders.

Austin said the U.S. would be delivering a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery along with additional Patriot missile defense system batteries “to locations throughout the region to increase force protection for U.S. troops.” Bases in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly targeted by drones in the days since hundreds were killed in a hospital blast in Gaza, and the destroyer USS Carney intercepted land attack cruise missiles in the Red Sea shot from Yemen on Thursday.

Qatar, a key power in the efforts to release hostages seized by Hamas from Israel, believes they can be released "very soon" thanks to ongoing discussions, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman told the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Doha's mediation played a key role in the release on Friday evening of two American hostages who had been held since the Palestinian militant group's attack against Israel on October 7, with the Gulf state adding that it was in talks with Israel and Hamas.

A suicide drone hit an airbase in Iraq hosting US troops, Iraqi security sources said, but the Pentagon said it could not confirm that such an attack took place.

Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants, as the two-week-old war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflict.

Israel has traded fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah on a near-daily basis since the war began, and tensions are soaring in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have battled militants in refugee camps and carried out two airstrikes in recent days.

Police in Cyprus said Saturday they arrested four Syrians on suspicion of setting off a small explosive device that caused no damage not far from Israeli Embassy in the capital Nicosia.

Police said the four, ranging in ages between 17 and 21, face charges of attempted destruction of property using explosives, possession and use of explosives and possession of a knife.