- NEW: President Obama talks to Israeli and Egyptian leaders
- An Israeli Knesset member says, "The White House is too silent"
- "Escalation is what we are concerned about," a senior U.S. official says
- U.S. Secretary of State Clinton has talked to many officials, a spokeswoman says
(CNN) -- The major concern of the United States in the current Israeli-Hamas conflict is a potential Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, U.S. officials said Friday.
That would be a disastrous escalation that could trigger a larger conflict, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
"Escalation is what we are concerned about. We don't want it to escalate to the point where Israel feels it has to take additional action, specifically ground force action," the official said.
Israel has some ground forces on the border and ready to act if they are called to do so, said Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, in a conference call with reporters Friday.
Israel's Cabinet on Friday authorized the call-ups of up to 75,000 reservists, prime minister's spokesman Mark Regev said. Israel's military said earlier in the day that 30,000 troops are being mobilized for a possible move into Gaza.
So far, Israeli tank units and troops have stayed outside Gaza. But the senior U.S. official indicated while the United States unequivocally supports Israel's right to self-defense, the U.S. message right now is for Israel not to enter Gaza on the ground.
24 hours in Gaza "Ground forces would clearly be a major escalation," he said.
The official said the worry is Israeli ground troops could lead to drawing Egypt into the conflict.
"What action would Egypt take, would they move into Sinai?" he said.
He said the assessment is that a number of other Arab nations in the region would then, at least rhetorically, join with Egypt against Israel. The official emphasized this is a U.S. worry and the strong hope is Hamas will stop its rocket attacks on Israel, thereby ending Israeli strikes.
"The question also is how much Hamas wants to risk," the official said.
A second official said the United States also is watching closely to see if Iran, which backs Hamas, attempts to infiltrate new fighters or weapons supplies into Gaza. Neither official would speak on the record because they were discussing sensitive national security matters.
Daniel Ben Simon, an Israeli Knesset member not aligned with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, said Friday that he sensed "almost an absence" from Washington, adding, "It's time for the Americans to step in."
"We need the boss, and the boss is still the White House," Ben Simon said, calling U.S. officials "the only ones that can control the situation and ... talk freely" to all sides. "It seems the White House is too silent."
U.S. President Barack Obama did talk Friday with Netanyahu, after the Israeli prime minister called him to voice "deep appreciation ... for the United States' investment in the Iron Dome rocket and mortar defense system," the White House said.
"The president reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself, and expressed regret over the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives," the statement said. "The two leaders discussed options for de-escalating the situation."
Obama called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy, commending "Egypt's efforts to de-escalate the situation and (expressing) his hope that these efforts would be successful," the White House said in another statement. The president also "expressed regret for the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives."
The State Department says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a number of phone calls trying to muster international pressure to stop what it terms a "very, very dangerous situation" in Gaza.
Clinton, traveling in Asia, called Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr for the second time in as many days, as well as Jordanian King Abdullah and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday.
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"In all cases her message has been the same: that we are urging a de-escalation of this conflict, we are urging those countries with influence on Hamas and other groups in Gaza to use that influence to get a de-escalation."
There will be other calls, Nuland said, to other countries to maximize pressure on Hamas. "I think we are all in the same place. The Egyptians are, the Turkish government is," she said.
Nuland added that the United States is encouraged that Egypt is involved in what she termed "urgent diplomacy."
The Egyptian prime minister was in Gaza on Friday, and Nuland said the call was an opportunity to get an update on that visit and to get a sense from the Egyptians in the wake of the visit what further steps they can take to help de-escalate the situation.
The U.S. Navy is continuing to keep to the standard deployment of three warships in the eastern Mediterranean that can shoot down ballistic missiles fired by Iran that would threaten Israel. Those ships are not equipped to deal with the short-range rockets being used by Hamas.
The Navy also has quietly made the decision to keep three amphibious warships with several hundred Marines on board in the vicinity of the Mediterranean in the unlikely event they might be needed to assist Americans leaving Israel.
Three U.S. military officials stressed strongly that the scenario is very unlikely.
"No one has even drawn an evacuation plan on the back of a cocktail napkin yet," one official said. But the three ships have been told to stay in place until there is more certainty about what is happening.
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv took precautionary measures Friday, reducing its staff and suspending routine consular services, according to an embassy security message. Additionally, embassy staff were instructed to keep their children home from school for the day and were prohibited from traveling to the south of Israel.
Relatives take cover from a rocket attack during the funeral for Itzik Amsalem in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, on Friday, November 16. At least three people were killed in the Israeli town when a rocket fired from Gaza struck an apartment building there on Thursday. Fighting between Israel and Hamas militants persisted Friday with no immediate end in sight. 
A rocket fired from Gaza toward Israel sails into the air Friday. 
Explosions erupt from spots targeted by Israeli airstrikes inside Gaza on Friday. 
Israeli soldiers stand guard while explosives experts examine the site where a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near the Jewish settlement of Gush Etzion in the village of Kisan, south of Bethlehem on Friday. 
A relative grieves during the funeral for Itzik Amsalem in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, on Friday. 
Palestinian protesters hold up the Hamas flag during a rally Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. 
People take cover during a rocket attack at a funeral Friday in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel. 
Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli security forces Friday in a West Bank village near Bethlehem. 
An Israeli soldier aims at Palestinian youth at a West Bank checkpoint Friday during a protest against the fighting in Gaza. 
Palestinian Fares Sadallah, 11, cries outside his home after an Israeli airstrike Friday in northern Gaza. 
Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze Friday at the Ministry of Interior in Gaza City following an Israeli air raid. 
Relatives of Itzik Amsalam, who was killed Thursday in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, mourn during Friday's funeral. 
A woman cries during the funeral of Itzik Amsalam on Friday. 
An Israeli soldier fires a tear gas canister toward Palestinian stone throwers on a road mainly used by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Beit Omar on Friday. 
Palestinians run for cover after an Israeli airstrike hits Gaza City on Friday. 
Palestinian youths inspect a destroyed mosque in northern Gaza on Friday. 
Israeli soldiers conduct a patrol as some 16,000 reserve troops are drafted in on Friday. 
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Audi Naser during his funeral in Gaza on Friday. 
Palestinian women and children cry during the funeral of Audi Naser on Friday. 
Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a fire at the Civilian Affairs branch of the Ministry of Interior on Friday. 
Smokes billows from a target of an Israeli airstrike Friday in Gaza near the border with Israel. 
An Israeli woman looks out from an apartment building in Ashdod, Israel, damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants on Friday. 
Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli airstrikes targeted the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City Friday. 
Israelis take cover in a pipe used as a bomb shelter, after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, November 15 in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. Rockets and shells crisscrossed between Israel and Gaza on Thursday as Palestinian militants continued rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and Israel pounded what it called terror sites. 
An Israeli man looks out from an apartment building that was hit by a rocket launched presumably from the Gaza Strip, claiming three lives on Thursday in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. 
Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli air strikes targeted an electricity generator that fed the house of Hamas's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City, on Thursday. 
A crater is left at a spot targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Thursday. 
Israeli soldiers rest by their armored personnel carriers stationed on the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday. 
Rescue workers evacuate a body Thursday in the Israeli town of Kiryat Malakhi after a rocket launched from Gaza hit an apartment building. 
Palestinian relatives mourn over the body of Hanen Tafish, a 10-month-old girl, at the morgue of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Thursday after she died following an Israeli air strike in the Zeitun neighbourhood. 
Palestinians watch a funeral Thursday in southern Gaza. 
A Palestinian pleads for help as he and others try to save a man trapped under his car after an Israeli air raid Thursday in northern Gaza. 
Israeli police inspect an apartment building hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Kiryat Malakhi on Thursday. At least three Israelis were killed and four were wounded, an Israeli police spokesman said. 
The Israeli military launches a missile Thursday from the southern city of Beersheba. 
A picture taken from the southern Israeli town of Sderot shows smoke billowing from a spot targeted by an Israeli airstrike inside Gaza on Thursday. 
A Palestinian man inspects his damaged house following an Israeli airstrike early Thursday in Gaza City. 
An Israeli reacts after a rocket launched from Gaza hits a building Thursday in Kiryat Malakhi. 
Palestinian firefighters extinguish the blaze from the car of Ahmed al-Jaabari, head of Hamas' military wing, after an Israeli airstrike hit it in Gaza City on Wednesday, November 14. The Israeli strike killed al-Jaabari. 
A woman sits inside a bomb shelter Wednesday in Netivot, Israel. 
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike Wednesday in Khan Younis, Gaza. 
Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire from the car in which al-Jaabari was apparently riding. 
A Palestinian man cries as security forces wheel al-Jaabari's body into a hospital. 
Palestinian youths look inside a building where al-Jaabari's body was brought after the attack. 
A wounded Palestinian girl cries at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. 
Palestinian youths evacuate an elderly man following an Israeli airstrike. 
Palestinian civilians leave their houses following an Israeli airstrike. 
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