U.S. Pentagon chief to travel to Israel
Visit comes as conflict between Hamas and Israel continues to escalate.
TroibNews 
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Israel on Friday, a senior Defense Department official announced.
What's happening: Austin will travel to Israel from Brussels, where he met with his international counterparts and discussed aid for Ukraine, said the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive plans. He will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other Israeli officials.
Context: Austin's visit comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Israel on Thursday. He also met with Netanyahu and Israeli officials.
Plenty to talk about: Austin has directed significant military moves to support Israel in recent days, deploying an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean and additional fighter aircraft to the Middle East. DOD is also sending munitions and Iron Dome air defense interceptors to Tel Aviv.
In addition, DOD officials are working on Israeli requests to also transfer precision-guided small diameter bombs, and Joint Direct Attack Munition kits that convert unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions, the senior DOD official said.
