The White House said today that the known number of American citizens killed in Saturday’s Hamas attack on Israel has risen to 27 and the number of missing Americans is 14.
“Certainly, we’re continuing to work with Israeli officials to make sure that we’re getting as much context and information as possible that we will share with them,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Israel estimates that about 150 hostages are being held in Gaza; Hamas has threatened to kill hostages in response to Israeli strikes.
“Some of these families actually saw their loved ones being abducted and taken away, so they have been a significant source of information as well,” Kirby said, noting in response to a question about the hostages’ locations that “it is a common tactic in the Hamas playbook to break up hostages and move them around in, sometimes, small groups.”
Asked about what is “an American military role in another country when Americans’ lives are at stake,” Kirby said that “the Israelis have made it very clear that they don’t want foreign troops on their soil — that they want to prosecute these operations on their own. And they have every right to want to do that.”
“Now we have some experts that were already in country, in part providing advice and counsel on, like, hostage recovery. We obviously have a terrific information and intelligence-sharing relationship with Israel. We’re working to improve that. And certainly we have a strong defense relationship when it comes to providing weapons and munitions, and we’re doing that,” he said. “And so, no, there are no intentions, no plans to put American troops on the ground in combat.”
