The first shipment of U.S. aid has arrived in the east Mediterranean Sea. The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, with its accompanying ships and fighter jets, was already operating in the Mediterranean Sea when President Joe Biden ordered the strike group to the Middle East to help deter other countries or groups, particularly Iran and Hezbollah, from escalating the Israel-Hamas war.
“Let me say again,” Biden said at a news conference Tuesday. “Any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word: don’t, don’t.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the move Sunday, Oct. 8 after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel. Hamas militants killed hundreds of Israelis and wounded thousands more.
Soldiers with the Israeli Defense Forces said they found approximately 40 babies and small children murdered, some even beheaded by Hamas terrorists in the attack.
“We walked door-to-door,” a soldier said in an interview on I24 News. “We killed a lot of the terrorists. We are stronger than them. They are aggressive, very bad. They cut head off children, cut head of women. But we are stronger than them.”
And now, the United States might deploy the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group later this week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Escalation in the Israel-Hamas war is a real possibility. At least one NATO ally is split from the United States.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan criticized the United States Tuesday, saying the carrier strike group would commit “serious massacres” in Gaza. He also criticized Israel for cutting off electricity, food, water, and fuel to the Gaza strip, saying the act goes against “the universal declaration of human rights.”
Turkey has backed Palestine in the past, including having hosted members of Hamas. Erdogan also offered to provide mediation between Israel and Palestine to help end the conflict.
The Turkish president isn’t the only leader siding with the Palestinians against Israel. The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has declared support for the Palestinian people. Kadyrov wrote in a Telegram post that he can send his units to act as “peacekeeping forces to restore order.”
The Kremlin said it was maintaining diplomatic relations with both Israel and Palestine as conflict continues.
In Germany, the federal prosecutor said he will open an investigation into Hamas over suspicions that Hamas militants had kidnapped German-Israeli citizens.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Israel and Jordan where he will meet with senior officials, according to the U.S. State Department.
Blinken will also try and secure the release of more than 100 hostages Hamas militants are holding captive.
