The United States has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean “to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war”, as residents of Gaza City fled south to escape an imminent Israeli ground attack in response to a murderous rampage by Hamas last weekend.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said late on Saturday that the presence of the USS Eisenhower and its affiliated warships in the eastern Mediterranean signalled Washington’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war”.
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The Eisenhower joins the USS Ford carrier strike group, which arrived earlier in the week “as part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas’s attack”, Austin said.
No rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza overnight by Hamas or other Palestinian factions, while Israeli strikes on the blockaded territory have continued. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that Ali Qadi, a commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba unit who oversaw the attack on Kibbutz Nirim, was killed in a strike on the southern town of Khan Younis.
The IDF spokesperson, R Adm Daniel Hagari, repeated on Saturday night his calls for civilians to move south of the Gaza River; about half of the strip’s trapped population of 2.2 million people are now believed to have been displaced to the southern half of the territory. The IDF said on Sunday that a third road had been identified as a “safe route”.
According to the UN, on at least three separate occasions in the last 48 hours, fleeing civilians have been hit by rocket fire, leaving some with the fear they will be killed if they try to move south. The world body has said such an exodus in a short period of time is “logistically impossible”. In Israel, orders were given on Sunday to completely evacuate the town of Sderot, less than a mile from Gaza, by nightfall.
Early on Sunday, Iran’s mission to the UN warned of “far-reaching consequences” if Israel’s “war crimes and genocide” were not stopped immediately. “The responsibility of which lies with the UN, the security council and the states steering the council toward a dead end.”
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told troops massed in southern Israel that “the next stage is coming”, in a video shared by his office on Saturday. The Israeli military announced on Saturday evening that it was preparing “significant ground operations”.
For Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, there are limited options to find safety after Israel’s order to evacuate the northern end of the territory. They are already running out of food, water, fuel and medical supplies, and face a terrifying escalation of bloodshed and misery if the fighting intensifies.
2023-10-15 05:26:36
Post from www.theguardian.com
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