Earlier in the week, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the United States, amid the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is sending the US aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and strengthening aviation units in the region. The aircraft carrier strike group, in addition to the aircraft carrier itself, includes a missile cruiser and four destroyers that carry guided missile weapons.
"The US is sending its aircraft carrier to Israel. I have a question about what an US aircraft carrier is doing in Israel? It will participate in very serious mass killings, striking Gaza with its boats and planes located around the aircraft carrier," Erdogan told a briefing in Ankara.