Lod, Israel - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday "now is the time" to end the assault on Gaza, and urged Israel to avoid further escalation with Iran.

Israel has been waging an all-out assault on the people of Gaza and recently escalated its attacks on Lebanon while also pledging to hit back against Iran's retaliatory October 1 missile strike.

In Lebanon, state media reported an Israeli drone strike on Tyre, after the military warned residents of parts of the coastal city to flee. The warning sparked a new exodus from the once vibrant city, which is perched on the Mediterranean coast, and AFPTV footage showed a plume of thick black smoke rising from the city after the strike.

"The situation is very bad, we're evacuating people," said Mortada Mhanna, who heads Tyre's disaster management unit.

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"You could say that the entire city of Tyre is being evacuated," said Bilal Kashmar, the unit's media officer.

Blinken's visit to the region is his 11th since October 7, 2023, and his first since Israel's attacks on Lebanon ramped up late last month.

Israel has killed 42,718 people in Gaza over the last year, according to figures from the territory's health ministry. The British medical journal Lancet and other experts believe the true number to be far greater, potentially upwards of 186,000 as of July.

"Since October 7 a year ago, Israel has achieved most of its strategic objectives when it comes to Gaza... Now is the time to turn those successes into enduring, strategic success," Blinken said as he left Israel, following meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.

On aid to Gaza, Blinken claimed he saw "progress being made, which is good, but more progress needs to be made and, most critically, it needs to be sustained."

The UN, by contrast, said last week that Gaza is facing its worst aid restrictions since Israel's nightmare campaign began over a year ago.

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Blinken himself has been accused of approving an Israeli policy allowing its military to blow up any aid trucks bound for Gaza that it claimed were linked to Hamas.

Of Israel's pledge to retaliate for Iran's October 1 missile attack, the US top diplomat said: "It's also very important that Israel respond in ways that do not create greater escalation."

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has deployed American troops and a new anti-missile system in a move designed to demonstrate the US' "ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel."

After Israel, Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia, which has put on hold talks towards a normalization deal with Israel until a Palestinian state is created. The US diplomat urged Israel to seize what he described as an "incredible opportunity" to move towards a deal with Saudi Arabia.

Previous US efforts to end the Gaza siege and contain the regional fallout have failed, as did a bid spearheaded by President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to secure a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon.

In his meeting with Netanyahu on Tuesday, Blinken urged Israel to seize on the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza to work towards a ceasefire.

Hailing Sinwar's killing, Netanyahu said it did not mean Israel's war was over, though he added that it could be the beginning of the end.

During his meeting with the Israeli premier in Jerusalem, Blinken "underscored the need to capitalize" on the death of Sinwar, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. This would be done by "securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza in a way that provides lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he added.

Netanyahu told Blinken that Sinwar's death "could have a positive impact on the return of the hostages," according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

Blinken also pressed for more aid to be allowed into Gaza as concerns rise for tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the besieged north.

Israel launched a major air and ground assault in northern Gaza this month. The only medical facility still partially functioning in the targeted area has "no medicine or medical supplies," warned Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hossam Abu Safia.

"People are being killed in the streets, and we can't help them. Bodies are lying on the streets."

Israel has expanded its aggression in Lebanon in late September. The military ramped up its air strikes around the country and sent in ground troops late last month, killing at least 1,552 people since September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.

Hezbollah kept up its attacks on Israel Wednesday, saying it had fired rockets at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of commercial hub Tel Aviv.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had killed the Hezbollah cleric tipped to succeed the group's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike three weeks ago.

Hezbollah has not issued a statement confirming Hashem Safieddine's death, but a high-level source close to the group had said that the militant leader had been out of contact since the strikes.

"We have reached Nasrallah, his replacement, and most of Hezbollah's senior leadership," Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military again struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, the country's capital, after issuing new calls for residents to evacuate the area and prompting the mass displacement of the Lebanese people.