PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East today as the U.S. urgently seeks to contain the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Clinton hastily departed for the region from Cambodia, where she had joined Obama for summit meetings with Asian leaders. The White House said she would make three stops, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and Egyptian leaders in Cairo. Clinton was expected to arrive in Israel tonight and return to Washington late Wednesday or very early Thursday after making all three stops.

Clinton’s trip marks the Obama administration’s most forceful engagement in the weeklong conflict that has killed more than 100 Palestinians and three Israelis, with hundreds more wounded. While the U.S. has backed Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket fire from Gaza, the Obama administration has warned its ally against pursuing a ground assault that would further escalate the violence and could dramatically increase casualties on both sides.

Still, Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the U.S. believes “Israel will make its own decisions about the military operations and decisions that it undertakes.”

Obama and Clinton have consulted about the widening crisis throughout their three-day tour of Southeast Asia, their final joint trip before Clinton leaves her post as the top U.S. diplomat. They spoke again about the situation this morning, aides said, and made the decision for her to travel to the region.

Still, it was unclear what impact Clinton’s presence would have on the spiraling violence or whether she was heading to the Mideast with any specific overtures from the U.S.

Rhodes said “there are a number of ideas that are in play,” but offered no further details. And he insisted the ramped up U.S. involvement was “a matter of what’s in everybody’s best interests.”