At least 10 Americans remain missing after Hamas’ devastating attack on Israel, some of whom are believed to be hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Saturday.
The 10 were among approximately 200 hostages taken in the brutal October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
“They include men, women, boys, girls and seniors from many nations,” Blinken said. “Each and every one of them should be released.”
After two American hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists were freed on Friday, Blinken pledged that the United States would continue its efforts to secure the release of additional hostages and others trapped in the Palestinian enclave, even as Israeli tanks and soldiers have lined the Gaza border for the imminent ground invasion.
“The urgent work to free all Americans and all other hostages continues, as does our work to ensure safe passage out of Gaza for Americans trapped there,” Blinken.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured that the United States was working to free Americans trapped in Gaza. AP
In addition to the suspected hostages, at least 400 Americans are believed to be trapped in the besieged territory, where food, water, fuel and medicine have been cut off amid fierce Israeli bombing in retaliation for the bloody attack by Hamas that killed at least 1,400 people in the Jewish State.
Follow the Post’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas
“We are very afraid for our lives,” Abood Okal, 36, who lives outside Boston with his partner, Wafaa Abuzayda, 29, told The Washington Post earlier this week, just minutes after a air attack bombed a nearby house where they were staying. with her one-year-old son.
“There is no safe place we can go and no evacuation plan on the horizon,” he added.
Israeli tanks and soldiers have lined up on the Gaza border for the imminent ground invasion. AFP via Getty Images
On Saturday, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened for the first time since Israel sealed the point following the bloody Hamas massacre, allowing a convoy of 20 trucks to bring much-needed aid to the Palestinians.
Ahead of the opening, the U.S. Embassy in Israel ordered Americans trapped in Gaza to prepare to flee through the crossing, while warning that it was unclear how long it might be open and that they “should expect a potentially chaotic and disorderly on both sides of the border. the crossing.”
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
But while the trucks were allowed in with vital supplies (including 44,000 bottles of drinking water and medical supplies for 300,000 people, according to the U.N. children’s agency and the World Health Organization), Americans and other holders of foreign passports that crowded the crossing were not allowed to leave. .
“There is no opening of the crossing and the suffering is the same,” Dina al-Khatib told the Times of Israel. “They communicate with us, but there are no changes.”
“It’s not like previous wars,” he added. “Here there is no electricity, no water, no internet, nothing.”
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza has opened to allow much-needed aid to Palestinians. AFP via Getty Images Egyptian aid workers celebrate as a truck returns to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on October 21, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
Blinken urged all sides to keep the Rafah border crossing open, noting that the progress on aid had been the result of “days of exhaustive US diplomatic engagement in the region.”
The country’s top diplomat also threatened Hamas not to accept any of the aid supplies it was allowed to bring in.
“As President Biden stated, if Hamas steals or diverts this assistance,” Blinken said, “it will have demonstrated once again that it has no regard for the well-being of the Palestinian people.”
With mail cables.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn