The United States said Monday it had seen some improvement by Israel in narrowing targets in its Gaza offensive as it renewed a call on its ally to spare civilians.

Days after a truce ended just as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller voiced guarded praise for Israeli tactics as its campaign expands to the south.

"What we have said is they need to take additional steps to protect civilians," Miller told reporters.

"We've seen a much more targeted request for evacuations" than in the earlier campaign in the north, he said.

"So that is an improvement on what's happened before."

As a result of Israeli actions, "the numbers of displaced persons will hopefully be lower in southern Gaza than it was in the north," he said.

"But when it comes to results, we are going to monitor it very closely."