American authorities informed their Turkish counterparts that aircraft carriers positioned nearer to Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean were deployed for the potential evacuation of civilians, according to a Turkish Defense Ministry official on Thursday.
The U.S. has deployed two aircraft carriers – and their support ships – to the Eastern Mediterranean since a surprise attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas against Israel earlier this month.
Hamas said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.
Israel has since put the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people under siege and bombarded the Palestinian enclave in relentless strikes that have killed thousands and made more than a million homeless.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the U.S. for the move, saying it may contribute to serious massacres against Palestinians and destroy Gaza.
Erdoğan said the deployment of the aircraft carriers to the region hindered Turkish efforts to establish calm in the region.
"When we raise this issue with our U.S. counterparts, they tell us that those aircraft carrier groups were sent there as part of noncombatant evacuation operations for civilians in the region," a Turkish Defense Ministry official told reporters, according to Reuters news agency.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier said that the deployment of aircraft carrier battle groups to the region was "not meant as a provocation, it's meant as a deterrent."
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the presence of the USS Eisenhower and its affiliated warships signals Washington's "ironclad commitment to Israel's security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war."
Eisenhower followed the earlier deployment of the world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
The show of support comes as Israel appears poised for a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops gathered at the Gaza border on Thursday that they would soon see the Palestinian enclave "from inside," suggesting the ground invasion could be nearing.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, the majority of them women, children and older adults. Nearly 12,500 others were injured, and another 1,300 people were believed buried under the rubble, according to health authorities.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed during Hamas' attack on Oct. 7.
