WASHINGTON/GAZA/JERUSALEM: United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. The order on Sunday evening followed a telephone call between Austin and Zionist Minister of Defense Galant.

Austin “reiterated the United States’ commitment to take every possible step to defend (the Zionist entity) and noted the strengthening of US military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions”, the Pentagon said in a statement.

According to Al Jazeera, the USS Georgia, a nuclear-powered submarine, was already in the Mediterranean Sea in July, according to a US military post on social media, but it is rare for the US to publicly announce the deployment of a submarine. The Abraham Lincoln has been in the Asia Pacific and had already been ordered to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which is scheduled to begin heading home. Zionist Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a parliamentary commission on Monday that the country had strengthened its defenses and organized “offensive options” as “threats from Tehran and Beirut may materialize”.

Calls for truce grow

The US and Zionist are fortifying Zionist defenses as international pressure mounts for a ceasefire in Gaza. On Monday, Britain, France and Germany made a joint plea for an end to the Zionist war in Gaza with “no further delay”. The call came a day after Palestinian group Hamas urged mediators to implement a truce plan presented by US President Joe Biden instead of holding more talks.

“The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released,” French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a joint statement. “The people of Gaza need urgent and unfettered delivery and distribution of aid,” it said. “There can be no further delay.”

The Zionist entity has accepted the invitation from the United States, Qatar and Egypt to send negotiators for talks planned for Thursday. “The reason we’re doing that is to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement,” Zionist government spokesman David Mencer told a news conference.

The government of Benjamin Netanyahu was slow to publicly embrace the proposal after Biden laid it out on May 31, and some far-right Zionist ministers still oppose it. Hamas said Sunday it wanted the implementation of the plan, which Biden said was approved by the Zionist entity and was later endorsed by the UN Security Council, “rather than going through more negotiation rounds or new proposals”.

Unveiling the plan, Biden had said the first phase of the proposed roadmap would include a “full and complete ceasefire” lasting six weeks, with Zionist forces withdrawing from “all populated areas of Gaza” and some hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by the entity. The second phase would see the remaining living hostages released as the warring sides negotiate “a permanent end to hostilities”, followed by “a major reconstruction plan for Gaza” and the return of dead hostages’ remains.

‘Have to go somewhere’

Pressure for a ceasefire grew after a Zionist air strike on Saturday killed 93 people at a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza officials told AFP on Monday that they had identified the bodies of 75 of those killed, while others were charred and torn apart. AFP could not independently verify the toll which, if confirmed, would be one of the largest from a single strike during the 10-month-old war.

The Zionist entity’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,897 people, according to a new toll from the territory’s health ministry. The toll includes 107 deaths in the previous 48 hours, according to ministry figures. Zionist authorities say the assault is in response to an attack which killed nearly 1,200 people in the entity.

In the city of Khan Yunis on Sunday, ravaged by months of bombardment and battles, AFP journalists said hundreds of Palestinians had fled northern neighborhoods after the Zionist entity issued fresh evacuation orders. “We have to go somewhere, and we don’t know if it will be good or bad,” said Majd Ayyad, as families gathered their meagre belongings and left in pick-up trucks, on foot or using donkey-drawn carts.

On Monday, residents told AFP Zionist forces struck Khan Yunis and Rafah from the air. Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, which has been fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza, said its militants were battling Zionist troops in Khan Yunis. In the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Suhail Abu Batihan said Israeli bombardment was “causing terror” among residents. “We demand that the Palestinian negotiator, the world, Qatar and Egypt intervene to stop this war.” — Agencies