US TO SEND MILITARY SHIPS, AIRCRAFT CLOSER TO ISRAEL FOR DETERRENCE, SHOW OF SUPPORT

Sun 08 October 2023:

The United States will send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, with Washington believing Hamas’ latest attack may have been motivated to disrupt a potential normalizing of Israel-Saudi Arabia ties.

Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns as the country suffered its bloodiest day in decades on Saturday. Israel battered Palestinians with air strikes 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 on Sunday. The Pentagon will be adding fighter jets to the region as well, he said.

US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces was on its way to Israel and more would follow in the coming days, the White House said after their call.

Austin said he ordered moving a carrier strike group closer to Israel, which includes the Ford carrier and ships that support it.

“I have directed the movement of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said in his statement.

The attack by Hamas launched at dawn on Saturday represented the biggest and deadliest incursion into Israel since Egypt and Syria launched a sudden assault in an effort to reclaim lost territory in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent