WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. officials say the Pentagon has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel.
The USS Gerald R. Ford and its approximately 5,000 sailors and deck of warplanes. It will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers in a show of force that is meant to be ready to respond to anything, from possibly interdicting additional weapons from reaching Hamas and conducting surveillance.
The Norfolk, Virginia-based carrier was already in the Mediterranean.
The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter before the Defense Department's announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity
