About 2,000 U.S. troops have been put on prepare-to-deploy orders for possible support to Israel, according to a defense official.
The troops are not being sent anywhere yet, nor would they necessarily go to Israel or Gaza. If they were deployed, they would go to a nearby country to be prepared to support Israel in the war against Hamas, the official said.
These who received the orders were already on 96-hour prepare-to-deploy status, which has now been shortened to 24 hours.
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Those being deployed would include service members with a variety of capabilities and specialties, including providing medical support and handling explosives.
The Defense Department has also already deployed the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where it will join the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford in a show of support for Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces have massed military personnel and equipment at the Gaza border, preparing to expand a retaliatory aerial attack with what it said would be “an integrated and coordinated attack from the air, sea and land.”
Hamas, which rules Gaza, carried out the worst terrorist attack in Israel in decades just over a week ago. The assault included targeting children and taking hostages.
Since then, more than 2,800 people have been killed and 10,859 have been injured in Gaza. In Israel, 1,400 people have been killed and 3,900 have been wounded.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday was in Tel Aviv, where he was met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war Cabinet in the Defense Ministry for more than seven-and-a-half hours, into early Tuesday local time. During the meeting, there were two rounds of air raids and orders to shelter in place.