What do we know about Americans held hostage by Hamas? At least 20 from US are missing

An unknown number of Americans were among those taken hostage by Hamas during its bloody attack on Israel, President Joe Biden’s Administration officials said.

Few details have been released about the captured U.S. citizens, but White House officials said they are working “hour by hour” to gather more information and are working hand-in-hand with their Israeli counterparts on recovery efforts.

“The safety of American citizens—whether at home or abroad—is my top priority as President,” Biden said in an Oct. 9 statement.

What we know so far

Between 100 and 150 people are believed to have been taken captive by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan told CNN.

Some of them are American citizens, 20 or more of whom are believed to be unaccounted for, Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security advisor, said during an Oct. 10 White House briefing.

“But I want to underscore and stress that does not mean, necessarily, that there are 20 or more American hostages,” Sullivan said, “just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for.”

It’s not known what condition the missing Americans are in, Sullivan added.

“We will work hour by hour both to determine whether we can account for any of those Americans or to confirm exactly what the number of Americans are being held hostage,” Sullivan said.

Biden Administration officials are in “very regular contact” with the families of the missing, Sullivan said.

Some of those family members living in Israel held a news conference Oct. 10 during which they recounted their harrowing stories and urged Biden to help bring their loved ones home, according to Reuters.

The mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old born in California, said her son’s arm was blown off by Hamas militants shortly before he was taken captive, according to KTVU.

She was able to track his cell phone, but it lost signal at the Gaza border, the mother told the news outlet.

Itay Chen, an American serving in the Israeli army, disappeared after telling his family he was under attack Oct. 7, according to Reuters.

“The U.S. has a lot of resources at its attention,” Chen’s father said at the news conference, held in Tel Aviv. “It is able to do many things that can be different than what the Israeli government could do. And we are asking, on behalf of my family for President Biden... and (the) Secretary of State to do what they can to make this end for us as soon as possible.”

Biden has no plans to send military forces into Israel to take part in hostage recovery efforts, Sullivan said.

In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden discussed sending intelligence experts to Israel “who can work on overall planning, who can work on coordination with the Israeli government,” Sullivan said.

In addition to providing experts on the ground, the Biden Administration has begun supplying Israel with munitions and has deployed aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean.

Further context

Hamas militants attacked parts of southern Israel on Oct. 7, a major Jewish holiday, killing more than a thousand people and taking others as hostages, according to the Associated Press and Haaretz.

“The savage attacks that Hamas perpetrated against innocent Israelis are mindboggling: slaughtering families in their homes, massacring hundreds of young people at an outdoor festival, kidnapping scores of women, children and elderly, even Holocaust survivors,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Biden, in an Oct. 10 White House speech, called the attack “an act of sheer evil,” adding “we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.”

Following the surprise attack, Netanyahu declared war on Hamas, and the Israeli military began bombarding and besieging Gaza, cutting off food, water and electricity, the Israeli Defense Minister said, according to Al Jazeera.

Bombing has targeted civilian homes, and 1,100 residents have been killed by the Israeli military’s onslaught, according to the Palestinian officials.

Hamas has threatened to execute civilian hostages if Israel continues bombing civilian homes without warning, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.

More than 2 million people, half of whom are children, live in Gaza, a small Palestinian territory on the Mediterranean, according to the United Nations. They have lived under an Israeli blockade since 2007, when Hamas took control of the territory, and have no way out. The territory’s economy is “devastated” and most residents are food insecure and without access to clean water.

The recent engagement is the latest in a string of conflicts between the Israelis and Palestinians that have claimed the lives of hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians since 2008, according to the Associated Press.

The bloody fighting has stemmed from Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territory, which is illegal under international law, according to a 2022 United Nations report.

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