The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has vowed unending American support for Israel during a visit to the country.
According to Blinken: “The message that I bring to Israel is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself – but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to.
More than 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes. At least 150 hostages were taken into Gaza during Hamas’s deadly attacks at the weekend that killed 1,300 people. 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are unable to access essential health services or even clean water, the UN says
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin is traveling to Israel tomorrow – a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited.
Austin is expecting to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other members of the newly-formed war cabinet, a senior defence official said.
“He is looking forward to speaking in depth with Israeli leaders about their operational planning and their objectives for this conflict,” a senior US official told reporters on the condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.
The UK is deploying surveillance aircraft and two Royal Navy ships to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel.
The aircraft will begin patrols Friday to “track threats to regional stability such as the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “We must make sure the types of horrific scenes we have seen this week will not be repeated.”