The USS Gerald Ford carrier fleet, the newest and largest in the U.S. Navy, is due to leave the Eastern Mediterranean in the coming days, on its way back to the United States, according to two officials who spoke to ABC News late on Sunday.
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The carrier and the five warships in its fleet, were sent to the region, nearing the end of its first deployment, one day after the Hamas carried out its massacre on Israeli communities near the Gaza border, on October 7.
USS Gerald R. Ford
A senior American official said that the return of the USS Gerald Ford to its base in Norfolk, Virginian is consistent with its deployment schedule and even after it departs the area, the U.S. would still have a multitude of military capabilities and the flexibility to respond to any need, including with its warships and missiles deployed to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier is currently deployed to the Persian Gulf to deter any aggression from Iran.
According to a report in the New York Times, the relations between U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have become increasingly strained. Biden spoke with the prime minister 14 times recently. "Every call is tense and sometimes sharp," U.S. officials told the Times, often describing them as difficult but constructive. The tone insiders used was along the lines “Look, man, you’ve got to do more about this or take this more seriously.”
The administration believes Israel has a right to self-defense, the threat from Hamas must be removed, humanitarian aid to Gaza must be increased and civilian casualty numbers decreased. Although Biden's officials have been highlighting the latter points, the president publicly at least, spoke more of the first two.
The paper said there were "hints that Mr. Netanyahu could ultimately accept a role for a reformed Palestinian Authority in Gaza," after the war, "recognizing there needs to be a Palestinian administration of sorts even as they hope to persuade Gulf Arab states to pay for reconstruction.