The United States will send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, with Washington believing Hamas' latest attack may have been motivated to disrupt a potential normalizing of Israel-Saudi Arabia ties.
Austin also added that the United States will provide munitions to Israel, and that its security assistance will begin moving on Sunday. The Pentagon will be adding fighter jets to the region as well, he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces was on its way to Israel and more would follow in the coming days, the White House said after their call.
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.
"It wouldn't be a surprise that part of the motivation may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with Israel," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN earlier on Sunday.
Hamas on Saturday said the attack was driven by what it called escalated Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had highlighted threats to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuation of an Israeli blockade on Gaza and Israeli normalization with countries in the region.
Netanyahu last month said he believed his country was on the cusp of peace with Saudi Arabia, predicting that the move could reshape the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam's two holiest shrines, has long insisted on the Palestinians' right to statehood as a condition of recognizing Israel - something many members of Netanyahu's nationalist religious coalition have long resisted.
The United States on Sunday said that Saudi-Israel normalization efforts should continue despite the latest attack.
"We think it would be in both countries' interests to continue to pursue this possibility," U.S. Deputy National Security adviser Jon Finer told Fox News Sunday.
FIGHTING CONTINUES IN GAZA
Blinken added that the United States has also taken note of reports of several Americans killed and kidnapped in Israel, and Washington is looking to verify the details and figures.
"We have reports that several Americans were killed. We're working overtime to verify that," Blinken said.
Blinken labeled the attack on Israel as a "terrorist attack by a terrorist organization."
Blinken added that there was relative calm on Sunday in most of Israel but intense fighting in Gaza, an Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave that has witnessed weeks of protests by youth groups due to long-time grievances related to the Israeli military occupation, the Palestinian national cause and prolonged economic strife.
He added that there was not yet any evidence seen by the United States of Iran being behind the latest attack in Israel but he noted the long-standing ties between Iran and Hamas, which governs Gaza.
