U.S. pledges military aid to Israel as experts weigh motivations for Hamas attack

The U.S. is moving their Ford carrier strike group, consisting of a deck of warplanes and about 5,000 sailors, to the Eastern Mediterranean in a show of force meant toassist Israel, after a surprise attack by Hamasand subsequent retaliation by Israelhas left over 1,000 dead and thousands wounded on both sides.

The large deployment, which also includes a host of ships and warplanes, was authorized after the Israeli government formally declared war Sunday and gave the green light for "significant military steps" to retaliate against Hamas.

In addition, the Biden administration "will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving todayand arriving in the coming days," said U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was trying to verify reports that several Americans were killed and some were taken captive by Hamas.

Global Affairs Canada saidthere are reports one Canadian in the region has died andtwo others are missing.

"Canadian government officials in Israel are in contact with local authorities to confirm and gather additional information," Global Affairssaid in a statement.

The agency said it has received over 400inquiries about the fighting. It said1,419 Canadians are registered with the voluntary Registration of Canadians Abroad in the state of Israeland 492 Canadians are registered in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Political leaders acrossCanada have publicly affirmed their support of Israel.

"Canada strongly condemns the current terrorist attacks against Israel," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday on X, formerly known as Twitter."These acts of violence are completely unacceptable. We stand with Israel and fully support its right to defend itself."

Home to some two million people, the Gaza Strip has been ruled by Hamas since 2007. Its economy has long been choked by a blockade imposed by Israel with Egypt's help.

Over the past year, Israel's far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians thereand tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

Israeli media sayHamas attacks killed at least 700 Israelis, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health says 413 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli retaliation.According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, there are 73,538 displaced people sheltering in 64 schools.

WATCH | Shattering 'Israeli sense of complacency':

Hamas operation designed to 'change the status quo,' expert says

12 months ago

Duration 2:33

Hamas militants caught Israel off guard with a barrage of rocket attacks and surprise infiltration of its borders on Saturday. 'This is an attempt to shatter not just Israeli sense of complacency but also of the region and of the great powers like the United States and Europe,' says Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow and director of the Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs with the Middle East Institute.

Possible motivations

The leader of Hamas's military wing, Mohammed Deif, said this surprise assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza as well as recent escalations by Israel.

According to Blinken,part of the motivation for Hamas's latest attack on Israel may have been to disrupt a potential normalizing of Israel-Saudi Arabia ties.

"It wouldn't be a surprise that part of the motivation may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with Israel," Blinken told CNN in an interview on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he believed his country was on the cusp of peace with Saudi Arabia, predicting it could reshape the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam's two holiest shrines, has long insisted on the Palestinians' right to statehood as a condition of recognizing Israel something many members of Netanyahu's nationalist religious coalition have long resisted.

Now,Dr. Sajjan Gohel, international security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, told CBC, Saudi Arabia's leadership cannot stay silent on Israeli attacks on Palestinians, thereby threatening the burgeoning Saudi-Israelialliance.

"And President Biden has been putting Prime Minister Netanyahu under pressure to concede more territory for a potential Palestinian deal that would involve also Saudi Arabia and Israel forming ties," Gohel said. "That is now all up in the air."

The situationwas further complicated after Lebanon-based Hezbollah claimed responsibility for strikes on northern Israeli positions Sunday morning, in a disputed area along the border with Syria's Golan Heights.Israel's military responded with armed drone strikes on Hezbollah targets in a disputed area where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet.

"The question I guess is that will non-state actors like Hezbollah continue carrying out further activities to test Israel's ability to react on two fronts?" Gohel said.

The fact that Hamas's assaultfromland through fencing, by seaand by air with paragliders evaded detection, despite constant Israeli surveillance of the region, is "an intelligence failure at an unprecedented scale," according toGohel.

The operation was carried out by the Al-Qassam brigade, the military wing of Hamas, and Gohelsaid it must have been in planning for weeks, if not months.

He said Hamas's control of the Gaza strip as well as Israel's own internal political divisions brought on by Netanyahu's judicial overhaul may have caused a gap in intelligence. This overhaul would curtail the Israeli Supreme Court's powers and protesters worriedthis would leave a weakened democracy.

"For the past 10months, we've seen tens of thousands of Israelis protesting, including many reservists who have refused to take part in active service, which includesIsrael's intelligence agencies, such as Mossad and Shin Bet," Dr. Gohel said. "That has definitely impacted Israel's ability to monitor how Hamas has been able to operate."

WATCH |How Israeli defence was caught off guard:

How Hamas caught Israeli defence off guard

12 months ago

Duration 8:29

Sajjan Gohel, international security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, discusses the internal and external geopolitical pressures that caused Israeli defence teams to overlook plans for the massive Hamas offensive that has launched a war and resulted in over 1,000 casualties so far.

No way out

In retaliation to the Hamas attacks and hostages, Israel has cut off the supply ofelectricity, fuel and goods to Gaza, and has been conducting regular airstrikesinto the territory.

The Israeli military also issued warnings in Arabicearly Sunday, telling Palestinian residents of communities near the Israel-Gaza border to leave their homes and move to areas deeper inside the tiny enclave.

"There's no way out [of Gaza],"saidRamsey Zeid,president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba, in a televised interview with CBC News. "There's only one way in for everything, for medical supplies, for foodor water, and that's all regularly cut off whenever Israel feels like it.It's a really bad situation for people living in Gaza."

The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group,Ziad Nakhaleh, said his group, which participated in the attack, is holding more than 30 Israelis, among dozens he said were captive in Gaza. On Sunday, senior Hamas officialMousa Abu Marzouktoldthe Arabic-language news outlet al-Ghadthat the group is holdingmore than 100 people captive.

Nakhaleh saidhostages would not be released until all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are freed,referring to Israel's detention of over 1,200 prisoners, mostly Palestinians, without charges.

Israel saidthe controversial tactic is necessary to contain dangerous militants and avoid divulging incriminating material for security reasons. But Palestinians and human rights groups say the system denies due process and is widely abused.

Gohel said he is mainly concerned about hostages taken by Hamaswho are primarily Israeli but could have dual citizenship.

"That will also involve other countries potentially getting involved, so it's absolutely critical that those civilians are released by Hamas because only keeping them further ... doesn't actually help resolve any of the problems that are miring the region right now."

With U.S. and Canadian politicians expressingunequivocal support for Israel's right to defend itself, Palestinians like Zeid hope for acknowledgment of Palestinian lives as well, against the backdrop of decades of Israeli occupation.

"It all seems really one-sided," Zeid said. "There's a lot of humanitarian organizations around the world [like]Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch that have gone into Palestine and Israel, and ...have called Israel an apartheid state...and for some reason, [U.S. and Canada] just ignore these reports."

WATCH | Canadian Palestinian in Manitoba describes what his niece is experiencing not far from the war:

Years of oppression led to Hamas attacks, says Canadian Palestinian

12 months ago

Duration 5:01

Palestinians worldwide watch anxiously as the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates. Ramsey Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba, fears for loved ones' safety, and says the violence wasn't surprising. 'When you treat people like that, when you back them into a corner, it's just a matter of time before they get fed up and they fight back.'