NATO allies and other Western nations pushed back Monday on U.S. President Donald Trump's demand that military alliance members help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical conduit for crude oil Iran has effectively closed.

European countries on Monday demanded to know more about U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for the war on Iran and when the conflict might end as they weighed whether to agree to his call to send warships to help shore up security in the Persian Gulf.

Trump has asked allies — including France, China, Japan, South Korea and Britain — to help secure the strait for global shipping. He said the U.S. was talking to "about seven" countries for military support to help reopen the trade route. But he wouldn't say which ones and gave no indication of when such a coalition might be formed.

At least 12 Palestinians, including two boys, a pregnant woman and eight police officers, were killed Sunday by Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

A strike Sunday morning hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat in central Gaza and killed four people, including a couple in their 30s and their 10-year son, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The woman had been pregnant with twins, the hospital said.

Fears of a global energy crisis rose Monday as the war in the Middle East raged on, with more U.S.-Israeli strikes on the Iranian capital and Israel's bombardment of Lebanon. An Iranian drone strike temporarily shut Dubai's airport, a crucial global travel hub, underscoring the threats to the world economy.

Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran more than two weeks ago, Tehran has regularly fired on Israel, American bases in the region, and Gulf Arab countries' energy infrastructure with drones and missiles.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open as Iranian strikes continued to rain down on Gulf countries Monday.

Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest, gradually restarted operations after a drone struck a fuel tank and started a fire. Authorities said it was quickly contained and no injuries were reported.

France's government is bolstering the country's military presence in the Middle East, dispatching its aircraft carrier and other warships, while President Emmanuel Macron engages with key players in the conflict, including Iran, in a bid to position Paris for future diplomatic talks.

Macron said that France's military involvement is strictly "defensive" and aims to avoid making the country a party to the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a short video on Sunday making light of rumors on social media that he was dead.

"I'm dead for coffee," he said sarcastically on his official X account as he received a steaming cup at a cafe outside Jerusalem, employing a colloquial Hebrew expression meaning to love something to death.

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war:

Donald Trump warned that he is not ready to seek a deal to end the war with Iran, as U.S. ally Israel launched a new wave of strikes Sunday and Tehran's Revolutionary Guards threatened to hunt down and kill the Israeli leader.

Israel has approved an $827-million emergency budget allocation for military purchases, Israeli media reported Sunday, as the war with Iran entered its third week.