GENEVA 

France urged Iran on Wednesday to do everything in its power to avoid a new military escalation in the region. 

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his deep concern over the rising tensions in the region in a phone call to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to a statement by the French Foreign Ministry.

Macron called on Pezeshkian "to do everything in his power to avoid a new military escalation, which would be in nobody's interest, including Iran's, and which would do lasting damage to regional stability."

"The logic of retaliation had to be abandoned, and civilian populations had to be protected," he said.

Macron said he was passing this same message on to all the players in the region with whom he was in contact.

He reiterated the French position in favor of an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and a firm refusal of any escalation with Lebanon, according to the statement.

Israel is on a high military alert for a potential Iranian attack following last week's assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the capital Tehran. While Hamas and Iran accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh's assassination, Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah has also threatened to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in an airstrike on a suburb of Beirut on July 30.

The escalation comes amid Israel's devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.