TERJE PEDERSEN / AFP
Hamas attack: Israel receives ammunition from the USA (Photo of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest warship in the world, on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean)
INTERNATIONAL – The United States began sending military aid to Israel this Sunday, October 8, with new ammunition and moving its carrier strike group closer to the Mediterranean, signaling rapid support for its historic ally, the was surprised by attacks by the Palestinian Hamas.
In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, President Joe Biden announced that “additional aid to the Israel Defense Forces is now on the way to Israel, with more to come in the coming days,” according to a White House press release .
The US president pledged “full support for his government and the people of Israel following a horrific and unprecedented attack by Hamas terrorists,” the executive added.
“The announcement by the United States is a real participation in the aggression against our people,” the Palestinian Islamist movement, which is in power in Gaza, said on Sunday. “These actions do not deter our people or the resistance that will continue to defend them,” he added in a press release.
The largest warship in the world on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean
The first package of military aid “will begin delivery today and arrive in the coming days,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
He said he had ordered the carrier strike group from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest warship, to head to the eastern Mediterranean. According to the US Navy, the carrier strike group was in the Ionian Sea south of the Adriatic Sea in early October.
The American Air Force has also increased the use of its fighter aircraft in the region, said Lloyd Austin.
All of this “strengthens the position of the US Department of Defense in the region,” he further explained, adding that “the United States maintains the readiness of its forces around the world to strengthen the deterrent position if necessary.”
Americans held hostage by Hamas
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, who increased the number of interviews on Sunday, shared information that Americans were also among the victims of the attacks. “We are working to review this,” he said.
For his part, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog pointed out that American citizens were among the hundred people, civilians and soldiers kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip.
High-level contacts between American and Israeli officials increased following a surprise offensive from the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Islamist movement.
“Ensure that conflicts do not break out in other places”
Despite the unanimity of the political response to unconditional American support for Israel, the institutional situation for the executive branch is complicated, with one of the two chambers of Congress paralyzed following the firing of its Republican leader last week.
Almost a year before the American presidential election, Joe Biden is under pressure from his Republican opposition, which accuses the Democrat of weakness in his defense of Israel and in his policy towards Iran.
Antony Blinken recalled on CNN on Sunday that President Barack Obama signed an agreement with Israel in 2016 “to provide $3.8 billion in military aid annually.”
“The entire (U.S.) executive branch has worked with the entire region and beyond to build support for Israel and ensure that every country uses all the tools and influence at its disposal to achieve a Hamas withdrawal and this “The conflict does not break out in other places,” he explained on ABC.
Asked about Hamas’s possible intention to trigger hostilities in order to torpedo discussions on diplomatic normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, supported by Washington, the foreign minister replied: “This could be part of the motivation.” Look who is against standardization? Hamas, Hezbollah (Lebanese Shiites), Iran. So it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
According to the latest authorities, the death toll in the war between Hamas and Israel rose to 370 in the Gaza Strip and to “more than 600” in Israel on Sunday, as well as thousands of wounded.
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