{"id":75258,"date":"2023-10-18T16:19:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/10\/18\/pentagon-iding-units-that-could-deploy-in-response-to-israel-hamas-war\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:46:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:46:03","slug":"pentagon-iding-units-that-could-deploy-in-response-to-israel-hamas-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/10\/18\/pentagon-iding-units-that-could-deploy-in-response-to-israel-hamas-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon IDing units that could deploy in response to Israel-Hamas war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As of Wednesday, two carrier strike groups<\/a>, an amphibious ready group, a Marine expeditionary unit<\/a> and 2,000 to-be-determined troops make up the U.S. military\u2019s response to Israel\u2019s war with Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The units, which have not all been alerted, will soon be moved to a 24-hour recall status, meaning they will ready themselves to deploy within a day if the order is given by the White House, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told Military Times on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mean time, the Ford and Eisenhower carrier strike groups will soon be together in the eastern Mediterranean, along with the amphibious assault ship Bataan, its ready group and the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which left Kuwait days after Hamas\u2019 initial attack on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though non-combatant evacuations are one of the 26th MEU\u2019s missions, Singh said during a briefing Tuesday that the Marines haven\u2019t been tasked with anything yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are there so that [if] the [defense] secretary and the president make a decision that they are needed, they are in the region, but I\u2019m not going to get into specific operational details at this time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ford left for its first deployment in May and had been scheduled to return to Norfolk in November when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved an extension of its deployment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singh could not say specifically how long the Ford carrier strike group\u2019s deployment has been extended, adding, \u201cMy sense is that it\u2019s going to keep being reevaluated, so I would say it\u2019s open-ended right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carrier Ford is set to be joined by the Eisenhower carrier strike group, which set out from Norfolk on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\t