Families of US citizens, potentially detained in the Gaza Strip after a Hamas attack on Israel, asked the Biden administration on Tuesday to help them return their loved ones safely.
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Fighters from the Palestinian Islamic Movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, kidnapped about 150 people, including foreigners and dual nationals.
Adrienne Nita, 66 years old, has been missing since Kibbutz Beri (south), where she lived, became the target of an attack by Hamas, which, according to an NGO, led to the deaths of more than 100 people.
Her 42-year-old son, Nahar, said in a press conference in Tel Aviv, along with the parents of four other citizens, that her children were on the phone with her “when the terrorists stormed her house.” A prisoner in Gaza.
“This was our last contact with her,” he added.
Nahar said: “The US administration, President (Joe) Biden, and Secretary of State (Anthony) Blinken… have a responsibility to return American citizens safely to their countries.”
“The United States (…) should always be on the side of good,” said Jonathan Dickel Chen, a 48-year-old Israeli-American, whose son Sagi has also disappeared since Saturday.
“Hamas is evil,” he said. “What we witnessed, this kind of brutality, this kind of inhumanity, must stop,” he said.
US officials contacted some of the victims’ relatives but received few, if any, details. Nahar Nita said that the Israeli authorities “did not make any contacts.”
The US State Department said in a statement that Anthony Blinken, during a telephone interview with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, “reaffirmed our efforts to achieve the immediate release of all hostages.”
Robbie Chen (48 years old) told reporters in Tel Aviv that the information he has about the fate of his son Itai indicates that he is a “prisoner of war,” and he asked “the United States not to stay.”
“The United States has a lot of resources,” he added. “We ask on behalf of my family (…) that they do everything in their power to bring about this end for us as quickly as possible, so that we can become a complete family again.”
