By NBC News staff and wire reports
Updated at 5:48 a.m. ET: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heading to the Middle East Tuesday for urgent talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials in a bid to end the deadly Gaza crisis, a White House spokesman told NBC News as the United Nations warned against a threatened Israeli ground invasion.
A U.S. official stressed that Clinton would not meet with representatives of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
Israel Defense Forces continued airstrikes overnight. Since it launched the campaign seven days ago in response to rocket fire, more than 100 people in Gaza and three people in Israel have been killed.
Obama spoke on the phone with Netanyahu and newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday Cambodia time (2:30 p.m. ET Monday) as diplomats in Cairo tried to work out a cease-fire agreement overnight.
White House aides admitted that while talks were not at a stalemate, they believe the negotiations need a nudge that Clinton's presence would hopefully provide.?
However, they said they were still working on what any "de-escalation" of the crisis would look like.
Clinton flew out from Phnom Penh in Cambodia early Tuesday, where she had been attending a summit of Asia leaders with President Barack Obama. She was due to arrive in Israel Tuesday night.
She will meet Netanyahu in Jerusalem and then Palestinian officials in Ramallah before heading to Cairo, the White House spokesman said in a briefing to NBC News and other reporters in Cambodia.
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters that the message of Clinton?s trip will be that it is in nobody's interest for there to be an escalation of military conflict in Gaza, Reuters reported.
Clinton will stress the U.S. interest in an outcome that can lead to improved conditions and reopen a path toward the aspiration of two states, living side by side in peace and security, NBC News reported.
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Rhodes was emphatic that Clinton would not meet with representatives of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip ? the source of the rocket fire that prompted Israel to launch its airstrike campaign.
It is U.S. policy not to engage directly with Hamas because it does not meet conditions to renounce terrorism and abide by preexisting agreements.
?The United States does not engage directly with Hamas. Hamas has not met the conditions that we?ve set for many years: to renounce terrorism, to recognize Israel?s right to exist and to abide by pre-existing agreements,? Rhodes said forcefully.
'Difficult' situation
However it is unclear how much influence the president or Clinton can have on the situation.
?She is going to go out there to be in the region to have direct, face-to-face discussions with those leaders,? Rhodes said. ?I don?t want to predict exactly what the outcome of those discussions will be. We all know how difficult this situation is.??
The White House thinks the leaders who are heavily involved in the region ?understand what the best outcome is,? Rhodes added, but that a peaceful goal is only achievable ?if Hamas takes action to stop what they?ve been doing.?
The Israel Defense Forces said on its Twitter account that an IDF soldier was ?moderately wounded? in a rocket attack in southern Israel Tuesday.
It also said that 120 trucks of goods ?were ready to enter? Gaza from Israel Tuesday. ?Hamas fired rockets at the crossing. Only 24 entered. Crossing is closed,? it added.
Diplomats in Cairo have been trying to work out a cease-fire agreement; both sides say they are in favor of one, but the fighting has continued.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and said a threatened Israeli ground operation in the Palestinian enclave would be a ?dangerous escalation? that must be avoided.
Ban was speaking at a news conference in Cairo after talks with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby. He was due to travel to Israel later for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Oded Balilty / AP
Israeli police officers detain a man who attacked a security guard at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday.
US Embassy guard wounded
Meanwhile, a man was arrested after he stabbed a security guard Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, a police spokesman told Reuters.?
The spokesman said the guard opened fire during the attack.
Israel Radio said the attacker, who police said was armed with a knife and an ax, was wounded.?
Shawna Thomas, NBC News producer, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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