U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland met with law enforcement officials in Miami on Thursday afternoon, the closed-door session coming as the FBI sees an increase in reported threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities while the Israel-Hamas war continues.

Garland has met with U.S. attorneys and law enforcement across Florida this week. The attorney general said in a brief statement to reporters that he instructed the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in all 94 districts to be in close contact with police in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks on Israel that began Oct. 7.

“At the top of our agenda will be our shared efforts to help keep our communities safe from violent crime,” Garland told reporters from his seat at the table surrounded by law enforcement at the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Florida in downtown Miami. “As always, but especially right now, that includes remaining vigilant in the face of the potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism. Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel have created understandable fear among communities across the country.”

The rise in reported threats the FBI has seen in recent weeks are against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities as well as institutions, Garland said. He has directed U.S. attorneys to contact religious and community leaders in their districts to see what additional support they might need.

The FBI said in a news release this week that agents are communicating with faith leaders, asking them to report anything “concerning.” The release did not provide further details about the increase in threats.

“Through our Legal Attaché office in Tel Aviv, we are working with our Israeli and U.S. Embassy partners to identify all Americans who have been impacted in the region, including those who remain unaccounted for, and our victim services specialists are working closely with victims and their families here and abroad,” the statement said.

At the meeting with Garland were U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe and leaders of Homeland Security Investigations Miami, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard District 7, the U.S. Marshal Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and chiefs and other top leaders of several police departments in Miami Dade and Broward County, as well as the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

South Florida law enforcement agencies were on high alert last week with an increased presence in largely Jewish communities and at temples and mosques after former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal called for protests in a recorded statement to Reuters. There were no credible threats in South Florida, local law enforcement officials told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Since the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Israel has continued to flood Gaza with air strikes in response. Palestinians were told to evacuate to the south, where air strikes have continued.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 others have been wounded. More than 1,400 have been killed in Israel.

Separately, Garland in his statement called the influx of fentanyl “the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced” and made an example of the indictments and sanctions announced earlier this month in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida of eight Chinese companies and 12 of their executives.

Three of the companies are accused of shipping chemicals used to make fentanyl to undercover federal agents in Broward and Miami-Dade and to a known trafficker in Deerfield Beach.

“That case is just one example of how we are going after every link in the cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking networks,” Garland said at the news conference Thursday. “That includes the cartels’ chemical suppliers often based in China, their clandestine lab operators, their security forces, their weapons suppliers, their drug traffickers, and their money launderers.”

He also highlighted the extradition of Ovidio Guzman Lopez, a Sinaloa Cartel leader and son of Joaquin Guzman Loera, “El Chapo,” from Mexico to the U.S. last month.

Earlier Thursday, Garland was in Jacksonville where he announced a $9 million settlement between the federal government and Ameris Bank over allegations that the bank was discriminatory to Black and Hispanic Jacksonville residents in making home loans.

Information from the Associated Press and the News Service of Florida was used in this report.