The killing of three US soldiers and wounding of 34 others on Sunday in an attack by Iran-backed militants is increasing pressure on US President Joe Biden to strike directly at Iran, which he has been reluctant to do for fear of igniting a wider war.
Iran has denied any role, but the first casualties in a series of attacks on US forces in the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas have prompted calls from US politicians for a direct response.
Biden's options for response could be attacks on Iranian forces outside or even inside Iran, or more cautious retaliatory strikes only on Iranian-backed militants, experts say.
US forces in the Middle East have been attacked more than 150 times since October by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and off the coast of Yemen.
However, until Sunday's attack on a remote base known as Tower 22 near Jordan's northeastern border with Syria, the attacks did not kill or injure as many American soldiers. This opened political space for Biden to carry out American retaliation, inflicting losses on Iranian-backed forces without the risk of direct war with Tehran, writes Reuters.
Washington said it would take "all necessary actions" to defend its troops.
"The president and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces and will take all necessary actions to defend the United States and our troops," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday at the Pentagon.
Biden said the US would respond, but did not elaborate.
"Be assured that all the guilty parties will be held accountable when and how we choose," he said on Sunday.
Republicans have accused Biden of allowing American soldiers to become clay pigeons, waiting for the day when a drone or missile evades base defenses. They say that day came on Sunday, when a drone crashed early in the morning near the barracks base.
"The only response to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran's terrorist forces, both in Iran and throughout the Middle East," said Republican Senator Tom Cotton.
Former President Donald Trump described the attack as "a consequence of Biden's weakness and surrender."
"Send your children into battle"
One Democratic lawmaker openly expressed concern that Biden's strategy to contain the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is failing.
"As we're seeing now, it's spiraling out of control and taking on the shape of a regional war, and both the U.S. and our troops are unfortunately at risk," said Barbara Lee, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives.
House Democrat Seth Molton, who served in Iraq as a Marine, told those calling for war with Iran to join the enemy.
"I would like to see you send your sons and daughters to fight," Molton said. "We have to have an effective, strategic response with our conditions and our time frame."
Experts warn that any attack on Iranian forces inside Iran could force Tehran to respond forcefully, escalating the situation in a way that could drag the United States into a major Middle East war.
Israel's war is not going according to plan
Israeli forces launched an assault on the northern capital of Gaza several weeks after withdrawing from there.
Residents of Gaza said that airstrikes on settlements throughout Gaza City killed and wounded a large number of people. While tanks shelled the eastern areas of the city, ships opened fire on the coastal areas in the west, Reuters reported.
Israel announced at the end of last year that it had largely ended operations in northern Gaza. The renewed offensive in Gaza City indicates that the war is not going according to plan, writes Reuters.
Among the dead were two Palestinian journalists, along with several members of their families, health officials and the journalists' association said.
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli cities for the first time in weeks, proving that the militant group that rules Gaza still has the capacity to launch them after nearly four months of war.
Gazans say the renewed violence makes a mockery of a ruling by the International Court of Justice calling on Israel to do more to help civilians. Health officials say 26.637 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
"The war continues in a dirtier way," Gazan Mustafa Ibrahim, a Palestinian human rights activist who is now displaced with his family in Rafah near the southern border with Egypt, along with more than a million other Gazans, told Reuters.
Israel has ordered new evacuations of the most populated parts of Gaza City, but citizens said that many will miss them due to communication interruptions. Israel blames Hamas for the civilian deaths because it operates among them, which the fighters deny.
Withdrawal of UNRWA support worsened the crisis
People in the north are grinding animal feed to make flour as they have run out of flour, rice and sugar in a crisis that has now been exacerbated by the withdrawal of support for the UN refugee agency, UNRWA.
The US said Germany, another major donor, was among countries that had suspended aid to the agency since Friday, when Israel said 12 of UNRWA's 13.000 staff in Gaza were involved in an October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1.200 people.
An Israeli intelligence file contains allegations that some of its personnel took part in kidnappings and killings during the attack that sparked the Gaza war, Reuters reported. The document states, without citing evidence, that around 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, are Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives.
The Palestinians accused Israel of falsifying the information to smear UNRWA, which said it had fired some staff and was investigating the allegations.
UNRWA, which claims 150 of its staff have been killed since October, has said it will have to suspend operations within a month if funding is not resumed.
"I dreamed of playing football"
The airstrikes also targeted the southern city of Khan Yunis, the main focus of Israeli attacks since last week, which has pushed clashes deep into the territory, home to hundreds of thousands of people who have already fled other areas.
Thousands of people were forced to flee again, while some walked south carrying children and bedding. Suleiman Abusari, a boy in a wheelchair being pushed by his father, said his legs were amputated after being hit by an Israeli drone.
"I dreamed of playing football," he told Reuters. "They stole my dream".
Biden and other leaders are pushing for a new temporary ceasefire to allow the release of hostages held by Hamas and the delivery of more aid to Gaza.
Negotiations on Sunday, initiated by Qatar and with the participation of the US, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs, were "constructive", Israel said. He added, however, that there are still significant differences.
The White House spokesman for national security said there is a framework for a hostage deal, but they haven't reached a final point yet.
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