Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III: The Status of the War on Hamas in the Near-Sea and Near-Infrared

Finally, the secretary is expected to visit briefly with the crew of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, which was dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Israel in the days after the Hamas attack as the first of two U.S. carriers sent to the region to deter Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq from widening the war in Gaza.

The major command center of the Pentagon is located at Al Udeid air base. Mr. Austin will meet with senior Qatari officials who have played an important role in facilitating the release of hostages seized by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III will visit Israel and two Persian Gulf nations this week, as Biden administration officials push Israel to end its large-scale ground and air campaign in the Gaza Strip within weeks and transition to a more focused phase in its war against Hamas.

Ten weeks after Hamas’s initial attack on Israel, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has climbed to nearly 20,000, according to local health officials, and international rights group warn the humanitarian crisis there is spiraling even further. The peril faced by the people kidnapped by Hamas and other groups and the fact that three Israeli hostages were killed by Israeli forces showed how bad the situation is.

The chairman of the Joint chiefs of staff will join Mr. Austin in Israel, in a sign of the urgentness of the war.

As the head of the Pentagon’s Central Command, Mr. Austin is familiar with the painful lessons the military learned in the past two decades as they transitioned from major ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to more targeted operations.

The secretary is expected to voice his support for Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas’ ability to wage military operations, but he will also reinforce the importance of taking civilian safety into account during operations and increasing delivery of humanitarian assistance, a senior Pentagon official said.