(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.NEW: President Obama talks to Israeli and Egyptian leadersAn Israeli Knesset member says, "The White House is too silent""Escalation is what we are concerned about," a senior U.S. official saysU.S. Secretary of State Clinton has talked to many officials, a spokeswoman says
The official emphasized this is a _ worry and the strong hope is Hamas will stop its rocket attacks on Israel, thereby ending Israeli strikes. "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 _ to use that influence to get a de-escalation."