The United States has withdrawn 120 military personnel from Israel and is advising Americans to reconsider any travel plans to the region amid an escalating bloody conflict involving thousands of rocket exchanges and ground troops.
News of the personnel removal and the travel advisory came late Thursday, after the Israel Defense Forces announced that it had deployed ground forces near the Gaza Strip four days into a deadly conflict with Hamas and Palestinian militia groups.
The US staffers, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday, were from US Central Command and US European Command. The group was flown out on a C-17 military transport jet to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“We made this decision to remove these individuals in coordination with our Israeli counterparts,” Kirby said.
Some of the personnel were in Israel for planning purposes for an upcoming bilateral event, but ended their trip early given the circumstances.
As the Defense Department pulls out some of its own people, the State Department is urging Americans to reconsider any travel plans they may have for Israel.
In a notice issued later Thursday, the department raised its travel advisory for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza to Level 3, which suggests Americans “reconsider travel.”
It was previously at Level 2, which tells individuals to “exercise increased caution” in the region.
“Protests and violence may continue to occur, some with little or no warning,” the advisory read.
Tel Aviv came under a barrage of 130 rockets launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, sending residents fleeing for shelter as air raid sirens blared across Israel’s second-most populous city.
Israel’s Iron Dome defense system was activated later that night, with the streaks of multiple interceptor missiles lighting up the skies over the area.
The heavy bombardment came after an Israeli strike earlier Tuesday evening that leveled a high-rise building in Gaza that housed the offices of several top Hamas officials. That strike had come in retaliation for earlier Hamas aggression.
Both sides had been firing at each other throughout the day, in some of the worst fighting between Israel and the terror group since their 2014 war.
As of Thursday, at least 83 people have been killed in Gaza since the hostilities erupted Monday. About 400 Palestinians have been injured.
On the Israeli side, seven people have been killed, including a 21-year-old soldier.
In total, more than 1,600 rockets have been fired at Israel since Monday, with 400 falling short, according to figures from the Israel Defense Forces released Thursday.
With Post wires