Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that the administration is working to verify whether American citizens are among those being held hostage by Hamas terrorists.
The death toll in Hamas’ Saturday attack on Israel rose to more than 700 people today, with at least 2,243 wounded and more than 300 in serious condition. An unknown number of civilians in Israel were taken hostage by Hamas gunmen.
“This is the worst attack on Israel since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago. But there’s also a big difference,” Blinken said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “That was a state-on-state conflict, army against army with clear front lines. This is a massive terrorist attack targeting Israeli civilians, gunning people down in the streets of their towns, gunning them down in their homes, dragging Israelis – men, women, and children – across the border with Gaza. A Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, women and children – all being taken hostage. So you can imagine the impact this is having in Israel, and it should be revolting to people around the world.”
“We have reports that several Americans may be among the dead. We are very actively working to verify those reports,” the secretary of State said. “Similarly, we’ve seen reports about hostages, and there, again, we’re very actively trying to verify them and nail that down.”
Blinken confirmed that there may be some hostages who are U.S. citizens. When pressed on what the U.S. role would be in freeing dual-nationalist U.S. hostages, Blinken replied, “Any American anywhere who is being detained or held hostage, that is going to be a priority for this government, for this administration, and for me, but I don’t want to get ahead of where we are. We have reports; we need to verify them.”
A senior administration official told reporters on a White House call Saturday evening that the hostages include “families taken from their homes, taken off the street.”
“Some of them are being held hostage in some of these Israeli towns. Some of them we believe have been taken to Gaza,” the official said. “So, this is obviously being taken into deep consideration by the Israelis” in weighing their response.
The White House said today that President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this morning about “the taking of hostages by Hamas terrorists, including entire families, the elderly, and young children.”
“The President again expressed deep sympathy for all those missing, wounded, and killed, and pledged his full support for the Government and people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists,” the White House said. “…The President emphasized that there is no justification whatsoever for terrorism, and all countries must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities.”
