From CNN’s Sam Fossum

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the outskirts of the Lebanese village of Zibqin on September 22.Kawnat Haju/AFP/Getty Images

US officials are continuing to urge Israel to de-escalate, amid rising tensions in the north, following cross-border strikes against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Sunday. 

It is the White House’s view that military escalation will not help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government reach its goals to restore a sense of normalcy for Israelis on Lebanon’s border, stressed Kirby. 

“We don’t believe that escalating this conflict militarily is the best way to get those families back to their Kibuttzes, back to their homes, back to their lives. We still believe that there is time and space for diplomacy to work,” Kirby said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Kirby said US officials are involved in “extensive” efforts, when asked on “ABC This Week” about what the US is doing to move forward diplomatic efforts.

“We have been involved in extensive and quite assertive diplomacy. In fact, our one of our envoys, Amos Hochstein, who I think you know, was in the region just a few days ago. We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we’re talking to both sides here,” he said. 

Kirby added that they are continuing to watch the escalating tensions with concern.

“We’re watching with concern the escalating tensions in the region and across that border here in the last week or so. And we don’t believe, continue to not believe, that kinetic action, military action, by either side is really in either side’s best interest […] There’s a better way forward here,” Kirby said. 

The National Security Council spokesperson also said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is the “big obstacle” to any hostage and ceasefire deal, even as he insisted that the US won’t give up on trying to secure a deal. 

For context: Israel and Hezbollah have been trading their most intense fire since the October 7 attacks. On Saturday, Israel carried out nearly 300 strikes in what the military said was preemptive action against a planned Hezbollah attack. Overnight, Hezbollah fired scores of rockets and missiles overnight into Israel, striking deeper than they have done in recent attacks.