The State Department announced Wednesday that 22 Americans have been killed amid Hamas’s barbaric attack on Israel, up from the 14 American fatalities that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced at a White House Press Briefing the day prior.
The American death toll will likely continue to rise as there are approximately 20 Americans still unaccounted for in the region, Sullivan said. Many of the Americans killed were dual nationals who had been living in Israel.
“We believe that there are 20 or more Americans who at this point are missing. But I want to underscore and stress that does not mean, necessarily, that there are 20 or more American hostages, just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for,” Sullivan said.
There have been no known attempts by the U.S. to recover missing Americans so far.
“We are working with the Israeli government and with our regional partners on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the U.S. government to advise the Israeli government and coordinate with them on hostage recovery efforts,” Sullivan said Tuesday.
Families of missing Americans have called upon President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to bring their loved ones home. They asserted that American leadership is “responsible to bring the U.S. citizens back home safe and sound. We expect nothing less from the U.S. administration.”
The death toll in Israel has reached 1,200, with more than 2,700 civilians are injured. Hamas has taken at least 150 hostages. Hamas has said they will execute one civilian hostage every time a Palestinian civilian is killed in Gaza “without warning.” Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, a Hamas division, said on Monday,
“We announce that every targeting of our people who are safe in their homes without warning, we will regretfully meet with the execution of our enemy’s civilian hostages.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Hamas, that if any hostages are harmed, “this war crime will not be forgiven.”
Hamas is notorious for using civilian hostages as human shields and tools of psychological warfare. The extremist group reliably posts horrifying photos and videos of hostage torture and executions on social media to further their mission of terror.
Israeli activist, Hananya Naftali, tweeted yesterday that the Israeli government condemns the sharing of these images and videos, and warns parents to shield minors from such content. “The images and videos are highly graphic and could induce significant emotional distress.”
President Biden is expected to provide further comment on the conflict at a roundtable with Jewish leaders later this afternoon.