Obama said he has told Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan that "those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future."
Obama also pointed to the next 48 hours "to see what kind of progress we can make."
Members of the U.S. Congress, which overwhelmingly supports Israel, criticized Egypt and Turkey for not doing enough to intervene.
They said all eyes were on Morsi, Egypt's first civilian and freely elected leader.
"Egypt, watch what you do and how you do it," said Sen. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
`'You're teetering with the Congress on having your aid cut off if you keep inciting violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians."
In a separate interview on ABC's "This Week," Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, called Egypt's response to the crisis "pretty weak" so far.
"I think that they're going to have to take some very serious steps diplomatically to make it clear to Hamas that they're going to lose support in the Arab world if they continue these rocket attacks on Israel," said Levin, D-Mich.
Lawmakers also blamed Iran for arming Hamas militants, and questioned Egypt's role in that.
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