The Department of Defense confirmed it is pulling 120 troops from Israel amid a flare-up in tensions between Jerusalem and designated terrorist groups in Gaza.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command staff flew on a C-17 military plane from Israel and arrived at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base on Thursday.

“We made this decision to remove these individuals in coordination with our Israeli counterparts,” Kirby said, adding that the military staff “were in Israel for a routine planning event” before the fighting escalated. The move was done as a precaution, Kirby said. From The Epoch Times.