For days now, U.S. officials have said they are trying to turn down the temperature in the Middle East amid escalating tensions. Now the U.S. is allocating additional military resources in the region.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced he had deployed the USS Georgia, a guided missile submarine, to the Middle East. It's a notable move, since U.S. military officials don't usually publicize the deployment of those submarines.
Additionally, Sec. Austin told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to move "more quickly" to the region, where the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group is already in place.
Meanwhile, over the weekend an Israeli airstrike hit a mosque and a school in Gaza that was being used as a shelter by people displaced there.
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The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 80 people were killed and another 50 wounded, many of them women and children. Israeli officials claim Hamas fighters were hiding in that shelter.
"The way that Hamas and Islamic Jihad fight us, they make it inevitable that there are civilian casualties," said Israeli government spokesman David Mencer.
All of this is happening while the threat of a retaliatory strike by Iran on Israel remains a possibility, after a senior Hamas leader was assassinated while he was in Tehran — an attack Iran blames on Israel.
On Monday, a spokesperson at the U.S. State Department addressed the ongoing conflict in the region.
"We are committed to helping Israel defend itself and we have put robust military capabilities in the region to do just that," said U.S. State Dept. Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, "but at the same time, we continue to work diplomatically to prevent any major escalation of this conflict."
Another meeting to try and get a cease-fire brokered between Israel and Hamas is set for Thursday. It's been organized by officials from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he plans to send a team of negotiators to that meeting. However, Hamas said it wants a previously negotiated cease-fire deal to move forward, without additional talks.
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