Following U.S. requests, Jerusalem has agreed, at least temporarily, to delay an expected invasion of Gaza.
The Israeli government agreed to the Biden administration's pleas as the White House ships more missile defense systems and troops to the Middle East.
Observers believe that the delay will postpone the Israeli invasion for at least one more week.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Pentagon is scrambling to deploy nearly a dozen air-defense systems to the region, including for U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to protect them from missiles and rockets. U.S. officials have so far persuaded the Israelis to hold off until those pieces can be placed, as early as later this week.
Israel is also taking into account in its planning the effort to supply humanitarian aid to civilians inside Gaza, as well as diplomatic efforts to free more of the hostages held by Hamas, officials said.
But the threats to the U.S. troops are of a paramount concern, U.S. officials said. U.S. military and other officials believe that American forces will be targeted by various militant groups once the incursion begins.
So far in Iraq and Syria, there have been at least 13 such attacks, using drones and missiles, which have resulted in the death of one American contractor and the destruction of an American drone, U.S. officials said. At least two dozen troops were injured in Syria and another 10 in Iraq, defense officials said, nearly all of them minor.
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