2023-10-15 02:43:51
The United States sent its second aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean to “deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts aimed at expanding the war following Hamas attacks,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday.
The USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its warships will join another strike group already deployed in the region following Hamas’ attack on Israel a week ago and amid Israel’s response.
The deployment signals Washington’s “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war,” Austin said in a statement.
For a week, Israel has launched deadly attacks triggered after Hamas fighters stormed the fortified border between the Gaza Strip and Israel and killed more than 1,300 people.
In Gaza, according to health authorities, more than 2,200 people died. As on the Israeli side, the majority were civilians.
The United States has sent ammunition to Israel and warned other countries not to escalate the conflict.
On the same day as the second aircraft carrier announcement, President Joe Biden stressed in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the United States’ support for efforts to protect civilians amid the bombing of Gaza.
“President Biden expressed his support for all efforts to protect civilians,” the White House said in a statement about that call, without specifically referring to the enclave.
Biden also spoke on Saturday with the leader of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, for the first time since hostilities began, condemning Hamas’ “brutal attack on Israel.”
“Hamas does not defend the right of the Palestinian people to dignity and self-determination,” Biden told Abbas, according to the White House statement.
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