Iran on Sunday warned that any Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip could expand the scope of the conflict elsewhere in the Middle East.

The United States said Sunday it fears an escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas and the prospect of Iran getting directly involved.

Medics in Gaza warned Sunday that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people run desperately low on fuel and basic supplies. Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave struggled to find food, water and safety ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region, positioned themselves along Gaza's border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. A week of blistering airstrikes have demolished entire neighborhoods but failed to stem militant rocket fire into Israel.

The German government on Sunday urged its nationals not to travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories or Lebanon because of "an escalation of violence" following the Hamas-Israel war.

Iran Saturday said it was still possible to prevent a regional spillover of Israel's war with Islamist group Hamas but warned that time was quickly running out.

Thousands of Palestinians sought refuge Saturday after Israel warned them to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week after the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

The group's militants are accused of killing more than 1,300 Israelis in an attack Israel has compared to 9/11 in the United States, sparking a massive retaliatory bombing campaign targeting Hamas that has killed over 2,200 in Gaza.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saturday that anti-Israel militant groups in the region are “fully ready” to respond to any move by Israel.

The minister spoke in Beirut at the end of a tour that took him to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, where Iran enjoys wide influence and where tens of thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed.

Israel's call Friday for half of the Gaza Strip's population to evacuate south is hiking Egypt's fears of a massive influx of refugees across the heavily fortified border into its territory.

Since Hamas' bloody attack on Israel sparked a massive retaliation in Gaza, Egypt's leadership has frantically tried to negotiate the entry of humanitarian aid through its crossing into the Palestinian territory — partially in hopes of averting an exodus into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Officials say its efforts have received no response from Israel.

A 50-year-old Israeli man who works at the Israeli Embassy in Beijing was stabbed on Friday in front of a supermarket, Chinese police and the Israeli government said.

Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They said the victim is a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday began a tour of six Arab capitals to build pressure on Hamas while Israel readies a massive offensive on the Gaza Strip following the militants' attacks.

The top U.S. diplomat spent a morning in Amman huddled with Jordan's King Abdullah II, a longtime U.S. partner, and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. He will head later Friday to Qatar and then Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, before heading in the coming days to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, officials said.