WASHINGTON: The United States will send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns as the country suffered its bloodiest day in decades on Saturday. Israel battered Palestinians with airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed on both sides. The spiraling violence threatens to start a major new war in the Middle East.
Austin also added that the United States will provide munitions to Israel, and that its security assistance will begin moving in no time. The Pentagon will be adding fighter jets to the region as well, he said. US President Joe Biden told Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that additional assistance for the Israeli Defence Forces was on its way to Israel and more would follow in the coming days, the White House said after their call. Austin said, “I have directed the movement of the USS Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was not yet any evidence seen by the US of Iran being behind the latest attack in Israel but he noted the long-standing ties between Iran and Hamas, which governs Gaza.
Hamas had on Saturday said the attack was driven by what it called escalated Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had highlighted threats to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuation of an Israeli blockade on Gaza and Israeli normalisation with countries in the region.