Pentagon Chief Warns That Hamas Took ISIS Tactics ‘to Another Level’

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday alleged that Hamas’ recent attacks in Israel took the “evil” perpetrated by the ISIS terrorist group to “another level.”

“I will tell you that in countering ISIS, I felt as if we were staring evil in the eye. It was truly evil. In what we’ve seen from Hamas, it takes that evil to another level, and so that’s the first thing that we need to remember and consider,” the Pentagon chief told reporters at a news conference in Tel Aviv, standing next to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

Years before he took the secretary of defense position, Mr. Austin led the U.S. coalition to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq in the 2010s. He traveled to Israel on Friday to display support amid a series of attacks that were carried out by Hamas, a State Department-designated terrorist group, in Israel since Saturday, leading to widespread retaliatory strikes in Gaza.

There have been allegations that Hamas terrorists killed infants, sexually assaulted women, and executed civilians. The group later said that it took some Israeli civilians hostage and said it would carry out executions if Israel strikes Gaza without warning.

“As a former commander of Central Command, the deliberate cruelty of Hamas vividly reminds me of ISIS,” Mr. Austin stated. “Bloodthirsty, fanatical, and hateful, and like ISIS, Hamas has nothing to offer [expect] zealotry, bigotry, and death. The world has just witnessed a great evil, the deadliest attacks on civilians in the history of the state of Israel, and the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the end of the Holocaust.”

On Thursday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that it found an ISIS flag as it was battling Hamas, posting it on Twitter, or X. The Epoch Times could not independently verify those claims.

The defense secretary’s quick trip to Israel from Brussels, where he was attending a NATO defense ministers meeting, came a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region. Mr. Blinken is continuing the Mideast diplomacy, seeking to avert an expanded regional conflict as groups like Hezbollah and Iraqi militants have indicated they would launch attacks if the United States gets more involved.

The defense secretary’s visit comes just days after he announced that the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier would be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean, closer to Israel. Later, it was announced that the USS Dwight Eisenhower would leave its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, and sail for the Mediterranean, potentially doubling the Navy’s Israel response.

The Eisenhower had already been scheduled to deploy to the Mediterranean on a regular rotation, and the Ford was near the end of its deployment. But the Biden administration may decide to keep both strike groups out there, White House spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.

The Pentagon has also ordered additional warplanes to bolster A-10, F-15, and F-16 squadrons at bases throughout the Middle East. More are to be added if needed. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Tuesday at an Atlantic Council event that the service was directing units that were about to come home to remain in place along with their replacements.

The U.S. Air Force already has significant airpower in the region to conduct manned and unmanned operations, most notably in Syria, where an Air Force F-16 last week was ordered to shoot down a Turkish drone that was posing a threat to U.S. ground forces.

Mr. Kendall also said Air Force C-17s have landed in and departed from Israel since the attacks. The transport planes were picking up U.S. military personnel who were there for a military exercise that hadn’t started yet when the attacks began, the Air Force said in a statement.

Mass Evacuations

Israel’s government on Friday told about 1 million people living in Gaza to evacuate toward the southern portion of the territory ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas. But Hamas, which controls Gaza, told its residents to ignore it.

However, White House spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC Friday that Israel’s order is a “tall order” to accomplish. “They’re trying to make the case that they don’t want to cause additional civilian casualties,” he said, adding that Hamas “put out an order for people to stay in their homes” while claiming that it’s essentially telling people to become “human shields.”

The World Health Organization on Thursday stated that the health care system in Gaza is close to collapse. It said there have been documented cases of 11 health care workers dying in strikes on Gaza.

“Time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel and life-saving health and humanitarian supplies cannot be urgently delivered,” the organization said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.