Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the next days of the Iran war will be "decisive" while refusing to rule out US ground forces playing a role in the conflict.

Hegseth also revealed during a news conference -- his first in nearly two weeks -- that he had visited US troops in the Middle East over the weekend, and said that talks on ending the conflict were "gaining strength."

"The upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it," Hegseth said.

CAIRO, March 31 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes killed at least five people in the Gaza Strip in two separate attacks on Tuesday, health officials said, in the latest violence overshadowing a fragile five-months-old U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia, north of the enclave, killed at least three people earlier in the day, while another airstrike killed two others in Khan Younis, in the south.

There was no Israeli comment on either of the two incidents.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that US forces would end operations in Iran "very soon," evoking a timeline of two to three weeks as his administration pursues talks with Iranian authorities while continuing its aerial campaign.

Asked during a White House event about the impact of high fuel prices since the start of the war on February 28, Trump said that "All I have to do is leave Iran, and we'll be doing that very soon, and they'll become tumbling down."

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump urged countries who did not help the U.S. in its coordinated strikes against Iran and are now unable to get jet fuel to buy American oil and go to the Strait of Hormuz and "just TAKE it."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

By Raghed Waked and Thomas Suen

BEIRUT, March 31 (Reuters) - A month ago, Nariman al-Issa's life was like any 12-year-old's: she played with toys and rode her bicycle in Beirut's southern suburbs. Her childhood was turned upside down when an Israeli strike killed her parents and siblings and destroyed their home.

Now the young Syrian is out of school and barely surviving with her extended family out on the street in the Lebanese capital - among the 1 million displaced by the Israeli military's expanding air strikes and mass evacuation orders.

In the stands of Beirut's largest stadium, it is the shouts of children displaced by war that echo, not the songs of fans.

Beneath the concrete steps, more than a thousand people fleeing Israeli bombs on Lebanon sleep in tents, including around 50 wheelchair users and people with other mobility challenges.

The vast sports complex is one of the few shelters able to take in people with disabilities, despite being poorly adapted to their needs.

Lebanon said Israeli strikes hit near Beirut's main airport road on Tuesday, as the UN Security Council held an urgent meeting after three peacekeepers were killed in the south.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said his country's military would occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon even after the current war against Hezbollah has ended.

This was not the first Israeli declaration signalling an intention to occupy parts of the south, but it was the clearest since the Middle East war spread to Lebanon on March 2.

BRUSSELS, March 31 (Reuters) - Israel's decision to pass a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks is 'very concerning' for the European Union, said a Commission spokesperson on Tuesday.

"This is a clear step backwards," added the spokesperson at a news briefing. "We call Israel to abide by its previous principled position, its obligation under international law and its commitment to democratic principles," he said.

JERUSALEM, March 31 (Reuters) - Israel will establish a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon and maintain control over the entire area up to the Litani River once the conflict with Hezbollah militants ends, Israel's defence minister said on Tuesday.

"At the end of the operation, the IDF would control the area up to the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges, while eliminating Radwan forces that infiltrated the area and destroying all weapons there," Israel Katz said in a statement following a security assessment, calling it a "security zone".

MOSCOW, March 31 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that U.S. plans to unfurl regime change in Iran and Venezuela were aimed at gaining more control over oil and gas resources.

Lavrov said the United States and Israel did not want normalisation between Iran and its neighbours, and cautioned that the war in the Middle East could spiral into a wider conflict.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, writing by Anna Peverieri; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)