Israel ‘agrees to delay Gaza invasion until US installs missile defences to protect American troops in the region – which could be ready as soon as this week’

• Threats to the US troops were of paramount concern for officials, WSJ reports

Israel has allegedly agreed to delay the invasion of Gaza so the US can install missile defences to protect its troops in the region.

The Pentagon is set to deploy nearly a dozen air-defence systems to protect troops in the region, including in Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

US came to an agreement with Israel to hold off the invasion until these systems are placed, which will be ‘as early as later this week’.

Another factor Israel is taking into account is the humanitarian aid being delivered to civilians inside the Gaza Strip and the diplomatic talks being held to free more hostages taken by Hamas, Israeli officials have said. 

Threats to the US troops were of paramount concern, US officials told the WSJ.

The Pentagon is set to deploy nearly a dozen air-defence systems (like the one pictured above) to protect troops in the region, including in Iraq , Syria , Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Wall Street Journal reports

Black smoke rises as the Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire continue on in Gaza

Israeli soldiers gather by military vehicles at Israel’s border with Lebanon

The US military and other officials believe their forces will be targeted by militant groups once Israel launches its ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory, according to the report.

So far, there have been at least 13 missile and drone attacks against US troops in Iraq and Syria, which caused the death of one American contractor. The strikes also destroyed an American drone.

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At least two dozen US soldiers were injured in attacks in Iraq and a further ten in Iraq, officials said, but added that most of the injuries were minor.

Washington advised Israel to hold off on a ground assault in the Gaza Strip and is keeping Qatar – a broker with the Palestinian militants – apprised of those talks as its tries to free more hostages and prepare for a possible wider regional war, it was reported earlier this week.

This followed talks that the Pentagon planned to send two Iron Dome missile defence systems to Israel to help it defend itself against inbound missiles, and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and additional Patriot air defense missile system battalions to the Middle East.

The Gaza war has sparked fears of a regional conflagration if it draws in more of Israel’s enemies – especially Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a close ally of both Iran and Hamas, which has already traded deadly cross-border with Israeli forces along the border.

As the fighting raged on, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah held talks with senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives in Beirut about how to achieve ‘real victory… in Gaza and Palestine’ and stop Israel’s ‘brutal aggression’, the Lebanese movement said.

Jordan’s King Abdullah became the latest regional leader to warn that ongoing violence could ‘lead to an explosion’ in the wider Middle East after talks with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron. 

Fire breaks out on the destroyed buildings in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire continued

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip today

French President Emmanuel Macron (left) met his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (right) today and called for a return to the Israel-Palestinian peace process, on the latest leg of a whistlestop crisis tour

Macron said the ‘massive’ Israeli ground incursion in Gaza would be ‘an error’. 

And his wife Queen Rania accused Western leaders of a ‘glaring double standard’ for not condemning Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians in its bombardment of Gaza.

READ MORE: Head of Hezbollah meets with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to discuss how to ‘achieve victory for the resistance against Israel’ in Gaza

‘Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s OK to shell them to death?’ she said in an interview with CNN.

Earlier today, Israeli strikes killed eight soldiers in southern Syria with its Air Force later hitting Aleppo airport for the fourth time in a fortnight, the defence ministry in Damascus said.

French President Emmanuel Macron met his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today and called for a return to the Israel-Palestinian peace process, on the latest leg of a whistlestop crisis tour.

On Tuesday, Macron was in Israel where he voiced support for its retaliation against Hamas after gunmen from the Islamist group unleashed the deadliest attack on Israel in its history on October 7.

Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

In relentless Israeli bombing since, more than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

In Cairo, Macron said ‘France does not practise double standards, international law applies to everyone and France has always carried the universal values of humanism’.

Israeli armored vehicles gathered at an undisclosed location near the border with Gaza

Israeli soldiers listen to Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as he meets them in a field near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Tal Al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza

People brandish rifles and Palestinian flags during a march to show solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip on October 18, 2023, in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa

He was responding to claims by Arab leaders who have accused Western nations of overlooking harm to Palestinians.

Egypt and Jordan were the first two Arab states to forge relations with Israel, in 1979 and 1994 respectively, and have since played key mediator roles.

Cairo has been one of the main brokers in efforts to secure the release of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

At their joint news conference, Sisi said he and Macron had discussed ‘the importance of striving to avoid a ground invasion’ of Gaza, because of the ‘many, many civilian casualties’ it could cause.

After more than two weeks of relentless bombardment and siege by Israel, Gaza’s already-fragile healthcare system is at risk of collapsing, with hospitals running out of essential supplies and fuel to power generators.

Macron said today that France would be sending a navy ship to support Gaza’s hospitals within the next 48 hours.

France would also send a planeload of medical equipment to Egypt to be transported into Gaza via the Rafah crossing, the only passage in and out of the besieged territory not controlled by Israel.

After a series of negotiations, humanitarian aid has been allowed to trickle in through Rafah, but the United Nations warns a massive scale-up is needed to meet the needs of 2.4 million people in Gaza – half of whom have been displaced.

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