US to send military ships, aircraft closer to Israel 'as a show of support'

WASHINGTON – A day after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel and Israel started indiscriminate bombing of the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza in retaliation, the United States announced it would send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support.

The announcement was made by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. He said Washington believes that 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 said the US would provide munitions to Israel, and that its security assistance would begin moving on Sunday. The Pentagon will be adding fighter jets to the region as well, he said.

Earlier on Sunday, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that additional assistance for the Israeli Defence Forces was on its way and more would follow in the coming days. An announcement in this regard was made by the White House after the the telephonic contact between the two leaders.

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.