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The Pentagon says US commandos are in Israel helping locate hostages held in Gaza and are ready to assist in evacuating citizens from the area.
The New York Times on November 4 quoted the Pentagon's top official in charge of special operations policy as saying that US commandos operating on the ground in Israel and Gaza are helping to locate more than 200 hostages taken in a surprise cross-border raid by Hamas on October 7.
“We are actively helping Israel do a number of things, the main one being helping Israel determine the location and status of hostages, including American hostages. That is really our responsibility to do so,” Christopher P. Maier, assistant secretary of defense for the United States, said at a conference on special operations in Washington.
Mr. Maier declined to say how many U.S. special forces are currently in Israel and Gaza. However, other U.S. officials said the Defense Department has dispatched dozens of commandos in recent days, in addition to a small group that arrived in Israel on October 7 for previously scheduled training.
The commandos will discuss options with their Israeli counterparts, the FBI, the State Department and other U.S. government hostage rescue experts, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
US special operations forces are not assigned any combat role in Israel, but they are discussing with their counterparts there the “very complex upcoming war” in Gaza, Mr. Maier noted.
In discussions with his Israeli counterpart, US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin stressed the need to be cautious in how Israeli forces conduct a ground offensive in Gaza, where Hamas maintains a complex network of tunnels under densely populated areas.
“We will work with them as much as we can to help advise them on those types of activities,” Mr Maier said.
To date, several Western countries have secretly moved small units of their special forces closer to Israel to assist in any potential hostage rescue operation and to be nearby to assist in any large-scale evacuation of their citizens from Israel or Lebanon.
Mr. Maier added that US special forces in the region are also ready to “help our citizens leave this place and help keep our embassies safe.”
According to Tin Tuc newspaper