US expedites munitions for Israel, moves ships and aircraft into region after Hamas attack

WASHINGTON — In the wake of this weekend’s stunning attacks in Israel, the US is beefing up its presence in the Middle East while working to speed up weapon deliveries for the Israeli Defense Force.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Sunday that he was ordering the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group towards the eastern Mediterranean, while taking “steps to augment U.S. Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.”

Additionally, the Biden administration “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days,” Austin said. “Strengthening our joint force posture, in addition to the materiel support that we will rapidly provide to Israel, underscores the United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people.”

The Ford Strike Group includes the Ford itself, the missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), and the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Carney (DDG 64), and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80), according to a Pentagon statement.

On Saturday local time, Hamas forces launched an unprecedented, multi-pronged assault on Israel, which reportedly included fighters traveling by air, land and sea. Hamas, the Palestinian group designated terrorists by the US, reportedly killed scores of Israelis and captured dozens of civilians and military personnel, who are now expected to be treated as hostages. Media has reported over 1,100 dead from fire on both sides in Hamas’s initial assault as well as Israel’s aggressive retaliation with strikes into Gaza — and Israeli officials warned that this was only the start of what will be a long-running conflict.

The raid seemed to catch Israel’s vaunted intelligence services unaware, with towns and military bases along the Gaza border attacked before any resistance could be mounted and leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare that his country is now at “war” with the Iran-backed Hamas.

The conflict threatens to upend a period of relative peace in the region, throwing a wrench into both Netanyahu’s political challenges at home and the Biden administration’s hopes for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal. It could also force the Pentagon to once again turn back to the region in more serious terms, at a time when it has made a significant effort to disentangle from the Middle East in order to focus on the Indo-Pacific.