Inside Gaza’s narrow and crowded streets, conditions were deteriorating as deaths from Israeli air strikes rose. Bodies were stored in ice cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals was too risky and cemeteries were full.

With fears of the conflict spilling further, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his tour of Middle East states, seeking to prevent escalation and secure the release of 155 hostages Israel says were taken by Hamas back into Gaza.

 Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to “demolish Hamas” as his troops prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world.

Israel has urged exhausted Gazans to evacuate south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave that is home to more than 2 million people. Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told people to ignore Israel’s message.

Arab leaders stressed the need to protect Gaza civilians.

“The reaction went beyond the right to self-defence, turning into collective punishment,” said Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Israel’s retaliatory strikes.

Clashes on Israel’s border with Lebanon, the deadliest since 2006, have underscored the dangers of regional spillover.

On Sunday, Hamas’ armed wing Al Qassam Brigades said it fired 20 rockets from Lebanon at two Israeli settlements while Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia said it fired missiles at Israeli barracks in Hanita and had inflicted casualties.

Israel said it was striking Lebanon in retaliation, and the U.N. peacekeeping force said its headquarters in south Lebanon had been hit by a rocket.

Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah, warned Israel of escalation if it kept attacking Palestinians.

“If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger,” said Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, adding that Tehran could not simply stay an observer.

Blinken met Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh then Sisi in Cairo. Amid international efforts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Blinken said the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would reopen.

“There’s a determination in every country I went to, to make sure that this conflict doesn’t spread,” said Blinken, who was due back in Israel on Monday.

“They are using their own influence, their own relationships, to try to make sure that this doesn’t happen.”

ISRAELI RESOLVE

Netanyahu convened Israel’s expanded emergency cabinet, including former opposition lawmakers, in a show of unity. “Hamas thought we would be demolished. It is we who will demolish Hamas,” he said.

Israel is carrying out the most intense bombardment Gaza has ever seen in response to the killing of 1,300 people when Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7.