"The Pentagon is scrambling to deploy nearly a dozen air-defense systems to the region, including for US troops serving in Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, to protect them from missiles and rockets. US officials have so far persuaded the Israelis to hold off until those pieces can be placed, as early as later this week," the WSJ reported.
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Israel, it further said, was also factoring in the humanitarian aid efforts to help civilians inside Gaza and the ongoing initiatives to release the hostages through various mediation mechanisms on the diplomatic world stage, according to the officials quoted in the paper.
Video: Biden says US will support Israel against Hamas
"But the threats to the US troops are of a paramount concern, US officials said. US military and other officials believe that American forces will be targeted by various militant groups once the incursion begins," the paper noted.
Israel said its latest strikes had eliminated more Hamas operatives including the head of the Islamist group's battalion for Khan Younis, Tayseer Bebasher.
It said Hamas tunnel shafts, command centers, weapons caches, and rocket launch positions were targeted, plus a cell of Hamas divers trying to infiltrate Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim.
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