Families in the United States and Israel continued to pray Wednesday for loved ones lost in the wake of a brutal Hamas attack that killed more than 1,000 people in Israel over the weekend, including 22 American citizens, according to US officials.
Among the dead were the American “idealist” who saved her son from the attackers’ bullets, and a nurse from California who moved to Israel to care for her parents.
White House officials said Wednesday that at least 17 Americans were still missing in Israel, though it was not clear how many hostages were being held by Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza and which carried out the attacks. “We have to prepare ourselves for the very clear possibility that these numbers will continue to increase,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council.
On Tuesday, President Biden pledged to make every effort to find and rescue the missing people. “I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” he said in a speech from the White House. Officials said they are in contact with the families of the missing and updating them on the latest developments.
US officials have not revealed the identities of the missing Americans, but based on media and family reports, they appear to include dual citizens who were serving in the Israeli military, as well as a mother and daughter from the Chicago area who were visiting family in Israel. A 23-year-old young man who was attending a music festival was attacked by Hamas.
Here’s what we know about them.
Missing Americans
Adrian Nita
Nahar Nita fought back tears at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, where he described being on the phone trying to comfort his 66-year-old mother, Adrienne. She was born and raised in California and lived on a kibbutz near the border with Gaza.
He said his brothers were talking to her on the phone when attackers stormed her home in Be’eri. He added that they heard screaming and have not heard from her since.
Hirsch Goldberg Pauline
Rachel Goldberg said that she woke up on Saturday in Jerusalem to the sound of sirens warning of rocket launches. Her son, Hersh Goldberg Pauline, 23, was at a music festival near the Gaza border. When she opened her phone 10 minutes later, she saw two consecutive text messages from him saying “I love you” and “I’m sorry.”
Ms. Goldberg – who moved with her family from California to Jerusalem in 2008 – has not heard from her son since. She said on Tuesday that the only thing police could tell her was that his last known cell phone signal was near the border with Gaza.
Judith Raanan and Natalie Raanan
The mother and daughter from Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, were visiting relatives in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz located less than a mile from the Israel-Gaza border. Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, executive director of Chabad of Evanston, said he had not heard from them since Saturday.
Rabbi Klein said Natalie recently graduated from high school. He described her mother as someone who could talk to a wide range of people, from older members of the congregation to younger students at Northwestern University.
“This was a woman full of hope,” Rabbi Klein said. “And I know she has the power to overcome her tormentors.”
Itai Chen
Robbie Chen said his 19-year-old son Itai, who was serving in the Israeli army, has been missing since Saturday. He called on President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “do what they can to bring this end to us as soon as possible.”
Among the dead
Deborah Martias
In her final moments, Deborah Martias, a Missouri native whose father is a longtime professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, covered her teenage son with her body to protect him, her relatives told several media outlets on Tuesday.
In the moments before she and her husband, Shlomi Martias, were killed by attackers who stormed the family home, Ms. Martias was speaking on the phone with her father, Ilan Troen, He narrated in a television interview. Mr Troen said she heard shattering glass, gunshots and people speaking in Arabic.
Her 16-year-old son, Rotem, was shot in the stomach but survived and hid until he could be rescued.
Mr Troen described his daughter and son-in-law as “perfect”. They lived in Kibbutz Holit, a small community just over a mile from Gaza, and sent their children to a school that taught both Hebrew and Arabic, he said, hoping that better understanding between Jews and Arabs would “change the course of history here.” “
Chaim Katzman
Mr Katsman, a peace activist, was initially believed to have been taken hostage on Saturday, but was later found murdered in his home on Kibbutz Holit. He studied conservative trends and extremism within the Zionist religious community, played the guitar and worked as a DJ playing Arabic music.
He did gardening and landscaping on the kibbutz, said his mother, Hannah Washholder-Katsman, who described him in a text message as “very hardworking and independent.” She said that he was born in Israel but obtained dual citizenship in the United States.
Mr. Katzman recently earned his doctorate at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he served as co-coordinator of an Israeli-Palestinian research group. His doctoral thesis was entitled “Religious Nationalism in Israel/Palestine.” It is unusual for Israelis to refer to the region in this way, rather than simply “Israel” or “Israel and the occupied territories.”
Daniel Ben Senior
The nurse described by her family as an “angel,” Danielle Ben Senior, 34, was born in California but moved to Israel to help care for her parents.
She was attending a music festival that was attacked by Hamas, and was originally considered among the missing. Israeli authorities told her family on Wednesday that she had been shot, said her cousin, Ran Ben Senior, who lives in New York.
“It’s a nightmare,” he said.
He contributed to the preparation of the reports Peter Baker, Colby Edmonds, Nadav Gavrilov And Heba Yazbek. Kirsten Noyes Contributed to research.
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