Since the commencement of the Gaza war, US officials have consistently reiterated their non-involvement in Israel’s offensive actions in the region. However, recent skepticism has arisen regarding the veracity of this assertion. Questions have surfaced concerning potential participation in Israel’s ground operations in Gaza, in conjunction with undisputed political and diplomatic backing on the global stage, and support in countering resistance forces in the region.
On Saturday, November 11, reports from news outlets, referencing the US European Command center, disclosed the death of five US Army special operations forces in a helicopter crash in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Allegedly, the incident occurred during a training and test refueling mission, with no official statement from US authorities regarding the timeline of the occurrence.
Subsequent to this event, on Sunday, November 12, The New York Times, citing informed American sources, revealed that the Pentagon had deployed commando teams from the Joint Special Operations Command, including Delta Force, to the American Mediterranean base in Cyprus, as a precautionary measure for potential involvement in evacuating American citizens from the region. Reports indicated the possible holding of 12 Americans by Palestinian resistance forces in Gaza.
The confluence of these themes, “US Special Operations Forces,” “Eastern Mediterranean Sea,” and “Evacuation of American Citizens,” led many to speculate on the interconnectedness of this occurrence with the ongoing conflict in occupied Palestine and Gaza.
As Israel’s persistent offensive against Gaza continues, inquiries have mounted regarding the precise nature of US support for the conflict. Recently, the Pentagon affirmed that the Yemeni attack drone intercepted by the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner in the Red Sea was targeting Israel, marking the second instance of US intervention to thwart potential threats to Israel from regional resistance forces.
Subsequent to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, the US announced a bolstering of military presence and offensive capabilities in the Middle East and neighboring naval bases. Initially, many analysts had posited that American troops would not be physically involved in Gaza. However, emerging evidence contradicts this notion.
Regardless of the US’s provision of a military support framework for Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories and its diversion of a significant portion of regional resistance forces’ attention, allowing Israel to concentrate its efforts on the Gaza conflict, doubts have been cast on America’s assertions of non-involvement in the war. Pertinent questions have been raised about the precise activities of American special forces in the Mediterranean to aid in evacuating American citizens from Gaza, as well as the feasibility of Israel’s continued ground assaults in Gaza without the support of American special forces.
Some international observers posit that US special operations forces are actively assisting the Israeli military across various occupied Palestinian territories, including tasks such as identifying resistance forces, pinpointing offensive targets, and locating captives.
From the perspective of observers, while the large-scale provision of advanced American weaponry to Israeli forces may engender relatively little dispute among American decision-makers, direct engagement of US soldiers in the conflict could spark significant controversy in Washington and incur domestic and international political costs for the Biden administration. Consequently, the White House has maintained a veil of secrecy concerning the scope and dimensions of the mission of American special forces in the Gaza conflict.
A secondary cause for the reticence concerning direct US military involvement in the Gaza war relates to the potential ramifications in Middle Eastern nations that maintain an alliance or friendly ties with the United States. The evident human rights violations in Gaza and the extensive humanitarian disaster precipitated by Israel’s assaults provide further impetus for Washington’s unease about any publicized cooperation in the Gaza conflict.
However, it can be proffered that every passing day renders visible additional facets of US President Joe Biden’s recent presence at the Israeli war cabinet discussions. On October 18, a notable highlight of the US President’s visit to occupied Palestine was an in-person encounter with the key decision-makers of the Gaza War in Tel Aviv, an entity known as the War Cabinet.
Following his visit to Israel’s military strategy center, Biden disseminated images on social media that seemingly revealed the identities of three Delta Force commandos, inferred to have been dispatched to Tel Aviv to offer advice and tactical instruction to Israeli forces on hostage rescue. This social media post was subsequently deleted.
Speculation now posits that besides the direct engagement of Delta Force in the Gaza ground invasion, American private military contractors have also been implicated in the Gaza conflict. Drawing parallels to Blackwater’s participation in other American regional conflicts, it’s posited that such entities likely entered the Gaza operation under the auspices of the Israeli military, either directly contracted by the American government or through an agreement with Israel arranged by the US government.
Certain social media discourses have posited the presence of soldiers in Gaza adorned with American flag pixels on their attire. It may also be conceivable that special operations forces from other Western nations have also been deployed in occupied Palestine.
