Distressing and disturbing images and video are circulating online as the most recent war between Israel and Palestinians continues to unfold. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday to describe what’s happening and to identify some of the more than 100 hostages taken by Hamas.
Blinken told George Stephanopoulos that Hamas has been “literally dragging people across the border with Gaza, including a Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, women and children.” He appeared to be referring to a woman seen in a viral video featuring a member of Hamas posing with the woman, who was holding a rifle and making a peace sign.
In a separate interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Blinken said the U>S. government has received “reports that several Americans may be among the dead” and is “very actively working to verify those reports.”
“Similarly, we’ve received reports about hostages,” he added, “and we’re very actively trying to verify them.”
Yaroslav Trofimov, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, captioned the video, “If anyone cheering on Hamas from the safety of the West thinks that today’s events will make Palestinian statehood any closer or make the lives of ordinary Palestinians any easier, they live in an alternative reality.”
A number of reports have indicated this is the most severe attack against Israel since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, something Blinken reiterated before he added that “there’s a fundamental difference, that was a war that was state-to-state, country-to-country, army-to-army. This is a massive terrorist attack that is gunning down Israeli civilians in their towns, in their homes.”
Blinken also said that the “entire” U.S. government has “been engaged throughout the region and well beyond, both to build support for Israel and to make sure that every country was using whatever means it has, whatever influence it has, to pull Hamas back and also to make sure that we don’t see conflict erupt in other areas.”
As for questions as to how Israeli intelligence failed so profoundly, Blinken said that there is a time and place for that conversation — it’s just not now. He added, “There remains intense fighting around Gaza. We continue to see that. The rest of the country right now seems to be calmer. But the intensity of the fighting is real and we had about 1,000 Hamas militants who infiltrated Israel.”
Hamas launched the surprise attack against Israel early Saturday morning. Within hours, Israel declared war, launched counterstrikes and confirmed that both civilians and military officers had been taken hostage.
Blinken condemned the attacks by Hamas as “terrorism, horror and something that offers not only nothing to people throughout the region, it offers nothing to the Palestinians” and added that the United States hopes for “the path of normalization, of integration, of people working together.”
A number of Hollywood celebrities have responded to the attacks. Former IDF soldier Gal Gadot wrote on Instagram, “My heart is aching. Praying for all of those in pain.”
While on a phone call with French President Emmanual Macron on Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “emphasized that the current escalation in the region is a result of the political impasse.” Palestinians in Gaza have been described as living in “the world’s largest open-air prison.”
Mohammed Deif, the military commander of Hamas in Gaza, claimed the attacks began in response to “aggression against the al-Aqsa mosque.” In recent days, thousands of settlers in Israel have entered the mosque.
The mosque, which is also known as Temple Mount, was annexed by Israel in 1967 but it is considered in occupied territory by many countries. It is administered by the Jordanian trust the Waqf.
