{"id":99680,"date":"2026-02-23T13:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/894790965"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:24:59","slug":"uss-gerald-r-ford-expected-to-dock-in-haifa-as-us-sends-cargo-refueling-aircraft-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/uss-gerald-r-ford-expected-to-dock-in-haifa-as-us-sends-cargo-refueling-aircraft-to-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"USS Gerald R. Ford expected to dock in Haifa as US sends cargo, refueling aircraft to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The USS Gerald R. Ford<\/a>, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive off Israel\u2019s coast and dock in Haifa on Monday, the latest addition to US reinforcements<\/a> in the Middle East as Jerusalem and Washington gear up<\/a> for a potential war against Iran.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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As part of the reinforcements, US tankers, as well as cargo and refueling aircraft, have arrived at Israeli airports and docks.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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The Ford carrier strike group, officially known as Carrier Strike Group 12, entered the Mediterranean after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar, a movement reported by multiple outlets tracking US naval deployments. The US Navy has not formally confirmed when the carrier will dock.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Haifa suffered significant damage during the Israel-Iran war in June, with dozens injured from missile fire and structural damage to homes and municipality buildings.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Haifa is home to the Israel Navy<\/a> headquarters and the largest oil refinery in Israel, which was hit during the war, forcing a partial, temporary shutdown of some secondary facilities.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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US aerial refueling planes at Ben Gurion Airport. (credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n
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Another major target during the war was the Haifa port, which Iran has previously threatened to strike.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Boosting personnel in Israel while evacuating non-essential workers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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The US has spent several weeks growing its Middle Eastern arsenal, despite already having a large presence in the region.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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More than 40,000 personnel are stationed across military bases and naval assets, and with Ford\u2019s arrival, several thousand more service members will be added to that total.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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In addition to boosting its presence in Israel, the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon<\/a>, on Monday evacuated dozens of non-essential personnel via Beirut\u2013Rafic Hariri International Airport.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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This was “a precautionary measure due to anticipated regional developments,” as first reported by Lebanese broadcaster LBCI and later confirmed by the US State Department.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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James Genn contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… , US tankers, as well as cargo<\/span> and refueling aircraft, have arrived …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}