The president vowed to stand by Israel and said it has a “duty” to respond.
President Biden said Tuesday that Americans were among the hostages being held by Hamas, in addition to 14 U.S. citizens who have been killed, and he vowed that the United States would stand by Israel as it responds forcefully to the surprise attack on its soil.
Biden, who did not provide a number of U.S. hostages, added that Israel has not only a right but a “duty” to respond to the onslaught by Hamas, which has left hundreds dead. His speech was the first official confirmation that Americans were being held captive, although officials had earlier suggested that was likely to be the case.
“As president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” Biden said. “Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond and indeed has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that the administration could not confirm the number of hostages but that at least 20 Americans were missing. Sullivan stressed that did not necessarily mean there were 20 or more U.S. hostages.
Overall, between 100 and 150 people are being held in Gaza, according to an Israeli official, and Hamas has threatened to execute civilian hostages if Israeli airstrikes continue.
Biden, delivering remarks from the State Dining Room in the White House, flanked by Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, spoke in unusually vivid terms about the assault itself.
“There are moments in this life when pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed in this world,” he said, referring to “stomach-turning reports of babies being killed” and “women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies.”
The president’s remarks came three days after Palestinian gunmen from Hamas infiltrated Israel and launched the deadliest attack in the country since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The surprise attack, during which Hamas gunmen hunted civilians in their homes and cars, killed at least 900 people and wounded 2,700 in Israel. It was a severe psychological shock to a country that prides itself on its intelligence apparatus and military readiness.
The onslaught sparked a major retaliatory bombing campaign by Israel in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 750 people, Palestinian authorities said.
Israel said Tuesday that it had regained control of its border with Gaza and was preparing to launch a full-scale military initiative. Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss of the Israeli 98th Division said that the military is now “moving into the offensive … to change the reality within Gaza to prevent such a thing from happening again.”
That suggests a multiday assault, potentially the first full-scale Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in almost a decade. While Israel’s stated goal is to cripple Hamas, civilians in Gaza are almost certain to find themselves in harm’s way. Israeli airstrikes in the past few days have killed an unknown number of civilians, including children, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israeli officials have made several requests to Washington in response to the Hamas attack, including a replenishment of Iron Dome ground-to-air missile interceptors, small-diameter bombs, ammunition for machine guns and heightened cooperation on intelligence-sharing, particularly in southern Lebanon, according to U.S. officials familiar with the requests, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military strategy.
Israel’s request for Iron Dome interceptors is a precautionary step in anticipation of future bombardments, not an indication that it is running low on a missile defense tool that has been key to shielding Israelis from incoming rocket fire, officials said.
