President Biden met via Zoom Friday with the families of 14 Americans who went missing in Israel and were held hostage in the Gaza Strip after last week’s Hamas terrorist attack, telling CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he wanted to show his administration would do everything possible to get the captives back home. – if it can detect them.
“I think they need to know that the president of the United States is very concerned about what’s going on. Deeply,” Biden, 80, told lead writer Scott Pelley in an interview taped Thursday and to be broadcast in full Sunday afternoon.
“We need to communicate with the world is critical. This is not even human behavior. It is pure barbarism. And we will do everything possible to bring them home if we can find them,” the president added.
The White House confirmed Friday afternoon that the president had made the call, along with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, State Department Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, State Department official John Bass, and National Security Council official Brett McGurk. No other details about the call were immediately available.
President Biden confirmed in a recent interview on “60 Minutes” that he will meet virtually with the families of American hostages taken by Hamas terrorists. CBS / 60 Minutes “I think they need to know that the president of the United States is very concerned about what that happened. In depth,” Biden, 80, told Scott Pelley of CBS. The White House via Reuters
MKN spokesman John Kirby clarified on Friday that the administration has not confirmed how many of the 14 missing Americans are being held by Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip.
“We will be quite prudent in the type of information we discuss publicly so that we don’t really jeopardize the effort to free these hostages and get them home safely,” he told reporters in a conference call.
Kirby said at a White House press briefing on Wednesday that the administration believes the number of Americans actually “held hostage is very small” and “less than a handful.”
Terrorist groups invaded from the Gaza Strip to persecute and kill civilians at music festivals as well as children, women and grandchildren in kibbutzim near the Israeli border. Nahar Neta Eyal Waldman, the father of 24-year-old American Danielle Waldman, who was killed in a Hamas attack on an Israeli music festival, is clinging to the hope that his daughter may have been taken hostage. Danielle, who hails from Palo Alto, California, was at a music festival with her boyfriend, Noam Shay, when they were both victims of a Hamas terrorist attack.CNN
“But that can change over time,” Kirby added.
Biden has been unequivocal in condemning the “sheer atrocities” committed by Hamas jihadists on October 7, when they launched a multi-front invasion of Israel, killing more than 1,300 people, including at least 27 Americans.
Thousands of rockets rained down on the Jewish state last Saturday and Sunday, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, while terrorist groups attacked from the Gaza Strip to persecute and kill civilians at music festivals as well as children, women. and elders in kibbutzim near the border with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared a gruesome photo of a butchered and burned baby on his social media account Thursday, which he said had been shown to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The White House has confirmed that at least 20 Americans are still missing, some of whom were arrested along with more than 100 Israelis and apparently taken back to the Gaza Strip. Debbie Hill/UPI/Shutterstock An Israeli American family whose loved ones were taken hostage by an attack by Hamas on the Gaza border attends a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday. Debbie Hill/UPI/Shutterstock
Blinken confirmed to reporters last Thursday that he had seen pictures of “babies, babies riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded, young people burned alive in their cars or in their hiding rooms.
“I could go on, but it’s just depravity in the worst way imaginable,” added the top American diplomat. “You can’t help but imagine yourself, your family, your loved ones, your friends in that situation.”
“Hamas is inhumane,” Netanyahu’s office said in text accompanying the photo. “Hamas is ISIS.”
The president has made several phone calls to the prime minister, stating that Israel has the “full support” of the US government
Biden initially said on Wednesday that he had seen the same picture following reports that at least 40 babies had been slaughtered by Hamas – but the White House later clarified that he had only heard about the picture from Israeli media and Netanyahu’s spokesman.
The president has made at least four phone calls to the prime minister, saying Israel has the “full support” of the US government and that “all countries must stand together in the face of such brutal atrocities.”
The White House has also denounced far-left “Squad” congressmen who called for an immediate ceasefire following the violent attack.
“I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend, and we’re going to continue to be very clear. We believe they are wrong, we believe they are disgusting, and we believe they are shameful,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday, without naming the lawmakers.
“Our condemnation belongs to the terrorists who have brutally killed, raped, kidnapped hundreds, hundreds of Israelis,” he added. “There can be no doubt about that. There are no two sides here. There are no two sides.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
