Time to scale back war, U.S. says

Meanwhile, planes strike targets in Lebanon after Hezbollah missiles kill two Israeli civilians

- JOSEF FEDERMAN, SAMY MAGDY AND KAREEM CHEHAYEB

JERUSALEM The White House said Sunday that "it's the right time" for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli leaders again vowed to press ahead with their operation against the territory's ruling Hamas militant group.

The comments exposed the growing differences between the close allies on the 100th day of the war.

Also Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck targets in Lebanon following a Hezbollah missile attack that killed two Israeli civilians - an older woman and her adult son - in northern Israel. The exchange of fire underscored concerns that the Gaza violence could trigger wider fighting across the region.

The war in Gaza, launched by Israel in response to the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage, has killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, devastated vast swaths of Gaza, driven around 85 per cent of the territory's 2.3 million residents from their homes and pushed a quarter of the population into starvation.