The USS Eisenhower carrier strike group will move to the Eastern Mediterranean to join the USS Ford carrier strike group that arrived there earlier this week, a senior U.S. official and a U.S. official told ABC News.

U.S. officials have said publicly this week that the presence of the USS Ford carrier strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean was intended as a deterrent to Iran and Hezbollah, not to get involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Eisenhower joining the Ford will increase the show of force enhancing that message of deterrence.

The Eisenhower strike group includes the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and the cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG-58), and the destroyers USS Laboon (DDG-58), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Gravely (DDG-107).

The strike group left Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday bound for a previously scheduled deployment that would take it to the Middle East via the Mediterranean Sea. While in the Mediterranean it was to have participated in previously-scheduled exercises in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility.

Earlier this week the Pentagon issued a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would "continue to review both the Eisenhower and Ford’s deployment plans as he considers the appropriate balance of maritime capability across theaters in support of national security priorities."

-ABC News' Martha Raddatz and Luis Martinez

Twenty-nine Americans have been confirmed dead in Israel, according to a State Department spokesperson, up from 27.

Additionally, 15 U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident of the U.S. are still unaccounted for, the spokesperson said.

"State Department personnel have been in contact with their families," the spokesperson said in a statement. "The U.S. government is working around the clock to determine their whereabouts and is working with the Israeli government on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to advise the Israeli government on hostage recovery efforts."

-ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday and “discussed the importance of adhering to the law of war, including civilian protection obligations, and addressing the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza while Israel continues its operations to restore security," according to the Pentagon.

President Joe Biden spoke on Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Biden's call with Abbas, the president "reiterated that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination” and “offered President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority his full support for these important and ongoing efforts,” according to the White House.

The Israel Defense Forces said over the last few days its soldiers have fought Hamas terrorists in Israeli areas around the Gaza Strip and have since regained control of communities, evacuated the injured and taken Hamas fighters' weapons.

Now Israeli soldiers are "preparing to implement a wide range of operational offensive plans, which can include combined and coordinated strikes from the air, sea and land ... with an emphasis on significant ground operations," the IDF said.

In remarks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at least 25 Americans had now been confirmed dead in Israel.

Netanyahu described some of the atrocities committed by Hamas.

"Hamas has shown itself to be an enemy of civilization: The massacring of young people in an outdoor music festival, the butchering of entire families, the murder of parents in front of their children and the murder of children in front of their parents. The burning of people alive, the beheadings," he said.

"Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated," he said. "They shouldn't be spit out from the community of nations. No leader should meet them. No country should harbor them. And those that do should be sanctioned."

Blinken said he was speaking not only as an American diplomat, but as a Jew, a husband and a father of young children, saying it was impossible for him to look at photos of families killed "and not think of my own children."

"The same time that we've been shocked by the depravity of Hamas, we've also been inspired by the bravery of Israel citizens," he said. "The grandfather who drove over an hour to a kibbutz under siege, armed only with a pistol and rescued his kids and grandkids. The mother who died shielding her teenage son with her body, giving her life to save his -- giving him life for a second time."

Blinken remarked that some U.S. aid had already been delivered, and that more military aid was on his way. He said the administration would work with Congress to meet Israel’s additional needs and that bipartisan support for Israel was "overwhelming."

The secretary called on world leaders to condemn Hamas.

Blinken also reiterated that Israel "has the right -- indeed, the obligation -- to defend itself" but that it was "so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians."

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford