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Washington – An American military aircraft crashed after suffering a "mishap" during training in the eastern Mediterranean, the US European Command (EUCOM) said on Saturday.
It did not specify the type of plane or where it was flying from, but the United States has deployed a carrier strike group to the area as part of efforts to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spiralling into a regional conflict.
In a statement that did not provide information on the fate of the crew, EUCOM said:
"We
can definitively say that the aircraft sortie was purely related to training
and there are no indications of hostile activity," the statement said,
adding: "The cause of the training incident is currently under
investigation."
Washington rushed military support to Israel and bolstered its forces in the region – including with the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier and other warships – after the Hamas militant group carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on 7 October that Israeli officials say killed about 1 200 people.
Israel's military responded with a relentless air, land and naval assault on Gaza that the territory's health ministry said has left more than 11 000 people dead.
