As another carrier group deploys to the Middle East, hopes for success and safety go with it
When a ship deploys from Hampton Roads, a part of the region goes with it. It carries our hopes for the mission’s success and our fervent desire to see all our brave men and women in uniform return home safely.
Those emotions were heightened this weekend as the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the supporting ships in its strike group began their journey to the Mediterranean Sea amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East.
ADVERTISING
The Eisenhower will join the USS Gerald Ford strike group, which was already in the Mediterranean but was repositioned following a brutal surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The terrorist organization, which has been the de facto authority in Gaza since 2005, launched hundreds of rockets into Israel as its fighters swarmed into countryside communities, killing an estimated 1,200 civilians and wounding more than 3,000 others. Hamas also abducted nearly 200 people, who are still being held in Gaza.
The State Department says 30 Americans are among the dead and that 13 others are not accounted for, meaning they could be among the hostages held by Hamas.
Israel has responded with airstrikes and limited ground operations that have killed 1,900 Palestinians and wounded nearly 7,700 others. International aid groups have warned of an unfolding humanitarian disaster following Israel’s decision to cut off supplies of power, water, food and fuel from Gaza.
As Israel steps up its response, the presence of U.S. forces is meant to show support and act as a deterrent to other nations hostile to the Jewish state. But any deployment comes with some measure of risk, and this is a perilous moment. There’s a likelihood more violence will follow.
Moving two carriers to the eastern Mediterranean underscores the gravity of the situation and the potential for a larger regional conflict. It puts the United States in a precarious spot, wanting to back a trusted ally in its time of need while preventing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
President Joe Biden struck the proper tone in his interview Sunday night with CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” He pledged unwavering support of Israel as it seeks to eradicate Hamas and hold Hezbollah, another terrorist group in southern Lebanon that has fired rockets into Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, in check. But he also voiced the need to protect the lives of Palestinian civilians as Israel conducts those operations.
The president urged the establishment of safe corridors for evacuations, the need to provide aid — food, water, medicine — to the displaced and to honor the rules of war, which require efforts to limit civilian casualties. He also cautioned against Israel reoccupying Gaza as it seeks to neutralize Hamas as a viable force in a strip of land slightly larger in area than the city of Hampton.
The question is, or should be, how to find a workable solution to this intractable problem. Hamas, through its brutality, has done irreparable harm to the prospects of peace and dimmed hopes for a two-state solution, at least in the short term. And worrisome for Israel is that a ground campaign, which its forces appear poised to launch, could be a prolonged, intractable conflict that will kill scores of people on both sides, whatever pains are taken to reduce civilian losses.
Eliminating Hamas is a must, as is securing the safe return of hostages held by the fanatics. But ordering the relocation of 1.1 million, as Israel did last week, or cutting off food, fuel and medicine from Gaza risks creating a calamity that could inflict agony on Palestinians who similarly detest living under the thumb of extremists bent on violence.
That’s why, as more than 5,000 personnel waved goodbye to their families in Hampton Roads this weekend, our hearts and our hopes sailed with them into the Atlantic. May the shared humanity of all those who want to live in peace and safety find a way to shine through so much darkness.
— The Virginian-Pilot
