At least 11 Americans killed in Israel during Hamas attack
At least 11 Americans have been killed in Israel after Hamas militants launched an attack on the country, US President Joe Biden said.
In a briefing with reporters at the same time, a senior US defence official accused Hamas of “Isis level savagery” in an unprecedented attack.
The identities of those killed have not been announced by officials.
Mr Biden said that it is “likely” that some US citizens are among the hostages being held by Hamas.
“It’s heart wrenching. These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred and violence,” Mr Biden said in a written statement, which raised the death toll from nine to 11.
Additionally, Mr Biden said that the US is deploying experts to help Israel find the hostages, and is sharing intelligence.
Washington is also increasing support in the form of air defence and munitions, the senior defence official said in a call with the media.
Israel says about 900 people have been killed and 100 kidnapped since Hamas militants launched the surprise attack in the early hours of Saturday.
In Gaza, almost 500 people have been killed following retaliatory Israeli air strikes.
More details are emerging about the Americans and Canadians caught up in the massacre.
Among the missing is 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Golberg-Polin, who was at a music festival in the desert which was stormed by militants.
His parents told the Jerusalem Post they received two messages from him, reading “I love you” and “I’m sorry”.
“We just want him safe,” Jonathan Polin, his father, said.
Another soldier with dual US-Israeli citizenship, Itay Chen, has reportedly been missing in action since Saturday.
His father, Ruby Chen, told CNN that he had sought the State Department’s help in finding his son, but believes that the US is “taking a back seat” in the investigation. He added that it is “a fair assumption” to believe his son was taken to Gaza.
Ilan Troen, a professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said that his daughter Deborah Matias, 50 and her husband Shlomi, were killed when Hamas fighters attacked their community in southern Israel.
Mr Troen told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that his daughter died while shielding their son Roten.
“They made sure to fall on him and thereby saved his life,” he said. “Although a bullet actually entered his abdomen, but he was saved.”
On Facebook, Cincinnati native and long-time Israel resident Hannah Katsman said that her son Hayim Katsman was killed at his kibbutz near the border with Gaza.
Mr Katsman, an academic who specialised in Israel studies, was a graduate of the University of Washington.
Another US citizen living in Israel, Abbey Onn, told MSNBC that five members of her family were taken hostage. On Saturday, she received a WhatsApp message from her family that Hamas fighters were in their home at Nir Oz near Gaza.
She later saw one of her relatives, a 12-year-old boy, in a video posted online.
