Joe Biden promised Netanyahu “full support for his Government and the Israeli people after a horrific and unprecedented attack by Hamas terrorists”, added the US executive in a statement, cited by the France-Presse agency.
Biden emphasized that all countries “must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities.”
For his part, the head of the Pentagon announced that the United States has begun delivering additional ammunition to Israel, adding that the US army is in the process of strengthening its military presence in the Middle East.
The first military aid package “will begin to depart today and arrive in the coming days,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement, adding that an aircraft carrier was en route to the Mediterranean.
According to two sources from US authorities, who spoke on condition of anonymity and cited by the Associated Press (AP), the Pentagon ordered the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to help Israel .
The USS Gerald R. Ford and its approximately 5,000 sailors and warplane decks will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers in a show of force, thus demonstrating a device ready to respond to any eventuality.
The Norfolk, Virginia-based aircraft carrier was already in the Mediterranean, having conducted naval exercises with Italy in the Ionian Sea last week. It is the United States’ newest and most advanced aircraft carrier and this is its first full deployment.
The Palestinian movement Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive on Saturday, with more than 700 people killed in Israel. More than 300 were killed in Gaza in retaliatory operations by Israeli authorities.
The death toll, which also includes several thousand injured, is increasing as the fighting continues today.
Along with the Gerald R. Ford, US authorities will send the cruiser USS Normandy, the destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt, and increase the presence of combat aircraft squadrons F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 in the region.
“The U.S. maintains forces at the ready around the world to further reinforce this deterrence posture if necessary,” Austin said in the statement.
Additionally, the Biden administration “will quickly provide Israel’s defense forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions,” and “first security assistance will begin moving forward today and will arrive in the coming days,” he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that the United States is verifying reports of missing and dead Americans following the Hamas attack.
“We have reports that several Americans have been killed. We are working overtime to verify that. At the same time, there are reports of Americans missing and, again, we are working to verify those reports,” Blinken told the media, quoted by Efe. .
Israel and the Palestinian militias in Gaza are experiencing the second day of war, with intense fighting in Israeli areas near the Gaza Strip, where there is still a Hamas presence, while rocket fire and bombing continue, with more than a thousand dead in both countries. sides in an unprecedented conflict.
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2415859/ajuda-dos-eua-a-caminho-e-porta-avioes-ruma-ao-mediterraneo-oriental
