In this photo made available by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia transits the Strait of Hormuz in Persian Gulf, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. INDRA BEAUFORT / AP

The United States is sending the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is speeding up the transit to the region of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, equipped with F-35C fighters "in light of escalating regional tensions," the Pentagon said Sunday.

In a conversation with Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant, "Secretary Austin reiterated the United States' commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East," a Pentagon readout of the conversation said.

The two defense officials "also discussed Israel's operations in Gaza and the importance of mitigating civilian harm, progress towards securing a cease-fire and the release of hostages held in Gaza" as well as efforts to deter Iran, Hezbollah, and other Iran-allied groups in the region.

On Monday, the leaders of the U.K., Germany and France released their own joint statement calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of the hostages and the "unfettered" delivery of aid to Gaza.

They urged Iran and its proxies, like Lebanon's Hezbollah, to refrain from attacks that could further escalate the conflict in the region.

"They will bear responsibility for actions that jeopardize this opportunity for peace and stability," the joint statement said. "No country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East."

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, announced Monday that a further 142 people had been killed in Israeli strikes over the past 48 hours, bringing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza since the war began to 39,897 people.

Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 people hostage. Around 110 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza and Israeli authorities believe around a third of the remaining hostages are no longer alive.

On Saturday, in one of the deadliest attacks in Gaza since the start of the war, an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed at least 80 people, according to The Associated Press.

Israel's military said it struck a Hamas command center located inside a mosque on the Al-Taba'een school grounds and that it used "three precise munitions which, according to professional analysis, cannot cause the amount of damage that is being reported by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza."

In a statement, Hamas said those in the compound were displaced people seeking shelter and they were killed while performing their dawn prayers.

"They are liars, liars, liars," one woman said of the IDF. "There were no fighters. No one had arms. We were mostly women."

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