Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced on May 13th that 120 U.S. Department of Defense officials had been evacuated from Israel that day, amid escalating clashes between the Israel Defence Forces and Hamas and Islamic Jihad forces based in the Gaza Strip. According to the Pentagon statement, the U.S. personnel had been planning for an event in Israel, but were flown out to Germany on a C-17 transport. “We made this decision to remove these individuals in coordination with our Israeli counterparts of course. These people from throughout the Department were in Israel for a routine planning event as part of the normal exercise cycle in support of longstanding bilateral agreements with Israel,” Kirby stated.

Over 1600 artillery rockets have been fired towards Israeli territory, following Israeli strikes on Gaza. New rounds of Israeli strikes reportedly killed 14 leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as an unknown but substantial number of militants and civilians. The U.S. has been supportive of Israeli efforts against militant groups, and like Israel it designates Hamas as a terrorist organisation – although many countries maintain ties to the Palestinian group which is not recognised as such by the United Nations. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has voiced his country’s strong support for Israeli strikes on targets in Gaza, which Israel appears set to sustain after refusing offers of a ceasefire from militant groups which were conveyed through Russia. 

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