Pentagon surging thousands of troops toward Israel amid Gaza war

Deployments disclosed by the Pentagon in recent days will surge thousands of U.S. troops toward Israel, projecting expansive military strength in the region as American diplomats race to prevent the war in Gaza from erupting into a broader conflict.

The moves include the deployment of two U.S. aircraft carriers and their associated escort ships, hauling some 15,000 personnel combined; the repositioning of an amphibious task force made up of about 4,000 Marines and sailors; and undisclosed increases to fighter squadrons already arrayed throughout the Middle East. Another 2,000 support troops have been put on alert and told they should be ready to go within days.

The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan travels through the Atlantic Ocean on July 20. Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Danilo Reynoso/U.S. Navy, via AP

The moves follow Hamas’s stunning cross-border attack Oct. 7. Israel declared war on the Gaza-based militant group in response and launched an expansive bombing campaign on the enclave. Western officials are scrutinizing whether any of Israel’s other adversaries, including Iran and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, intend to expand the conflict.

U.S. military officials detailed their latest plans Tuesday, saying Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had directed the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group to extend its deployment indefinitely as the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group heads to the region to join it.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the Defense Department remains focused on three priorities: discouraging Israel’s other adversaries from joining the war, providing a vital American ally with the security assistance it seeks and remaining “incredibly vigilant” for any safety threat to U.S. forces that may arise from the unrest.

“Our main goal is to send a message of deterrence,” Singh said.

The task force of sailors and Marines, embarked aboard the USS Bataan and two other warships, includes an infantry battalion of about 900 combat personnel, F-35B fighter jets, armored vehicles and other weapons.

The Bataan and the USS Carter Hall, another of the ships transporting the task force, were in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, having left Kuwait after the unprecedented attack by Hamas. A third ship, the USS Mesa Verde, was in the Mediterranean Sea and heading near the Israeli shore, defense officials said.

The 2,000 support personnel put on prepare-to-deploy orders have not yet been identified, Singh said. The U.S. military continues to fly weapons and other security assistance into Israel, she added. The United States has pledged to provide more missile interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system, small-diameter bombs and other GPS-guided weapons.

Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the top commander overseeing U.S. military operations in the Middle East, spoke Monday with Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s chief of defense, and other senior officials in Tel Aviv. Kurilla’s headquarters at U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the general wanted to “gain a clear understanding of Israel’s defense requirements, outline U.S. support efforts to avoid expansion of the conflict, and reiterate the Department of Defense’s ironclad support for Israel.”

Central Command did not respond to requests for information about how many U.S. personnel were in the region before the Hamas attack, and how many there are now.

U.S. and Israeli officials each have said that they do not expect U.S. forces to be involved in any fighting.

The Biden administration is balancing the crisis in Israel against other requirements, including the war in Ukraine and increasing assertiveness by the Chinese military in the Pacific. In an interview, President Biden dismissed a question about whether the United States can balance all of these issues at the same time.

“We’re the United States of America, for God’s sake, the most powerful nation in the history – not in the world, in the history of the world,” Biden said in a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast on Sunday. “We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense.”