The American death toll from the barbaric Hamas terror attack on Israel has risen to 25, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday, shortly after arriving in Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior government officials.
The number of confirmed American fatalities has continued to rise since Saturday, when thousands of Hamas terrorists poured across the Israel-Gaza border to slaughter, kidnap, and torture Israeli civilians.
There are at least 17 Americans among the hostages who were dragged back across the border into Gaza as Hamas withdrew, the White House announced Wednesday.
Shortly after touching down in Tel Aviv, Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for the Jewish State in a joint address to the Israeli people alongside Netanyahu.
“You may be strong enough to defend yourself on your own. But as long as the U.S. exists, you will never, ever have to,” Blinken said.
🔴 U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken addresses Israeli citizens
‘As long as the U.S. exists, you will never be alone’ pic.twitter.com/L257fCf84z
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 12, 2023
The secretary of state went on to discuss his own Jewish heritage, telling Israelis, “I come before you not just as United States secretary of state, but also as a Jew.”
Blinken confirmed that additional U.S. military aid, on top of what was sent earlier this week, is “on the way,” and added that the U.S. is working with Israel to secure the release of the hostages being held in Gaza.
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday in an effort to deter Israel’s hostile neighbors from widening the conflict. The carrier’s arrival coincided with threats from several Iranian-backed shiite militias in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, which announced that they would begin striking American military targets if the U.S. intervened in the conflict.
Blinken is heading to Jordan on Friday to meet with King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority.