The United States will be moving a carrier strike group closer to Israel, which includes the Ford carrier and ships that support it, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday.
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 also be adding fighter jets in the region.
Israel said it is at war as its soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel and launched airstrikes on Gaza, the day after an unprecedented surprise Hamas attack.
Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, said American citizens are among those who were taken captive by militants but gave no details about them, nor about Americans who might have been killed.
“Unfortunately I can’t. We have a lot of dual citizens in Israel. I suspect there are several, but we’re still trying to sort through all of all this information after this horrific surprise attack and we’ll make sure to put that information out so that the loved ones of these people who were killed and who are held hostage, they know as quickly as possible,” Dermer told CNN’s ‘’State of the Union.’’
