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The known death toll in Israel increased Tuesday following the attacks by Hamas, which were condemned by U.S. President Joe Biden as “unadulterated evil.”
Around 1,200 people in Israel have been killed, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said, as more bodies have been found following Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel.
“In this moment, we must be crystal clear,” Biden said in an address Tuesday. “We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel.”
Fourteen Americans have been killed, and Americans are among those taken captive and held hostage by Hamas, Biden said.
The number of dead in Gaza and the West Bank are 919, according to health ministries in the two areas.
Most of the dead are in Gaza, where Israel has been carrying out airstrikes in retaliation for the Hamas attack (Hamas is in control of Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority is in administrative control of parts of the West Bank).
Ground forces are also gathering near Gaza, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said early Wednesday. Israel has called up 300,000 reservists.
Biden urged Israel’s prime minister to minimize civilian casualties, administration officials said. The Biden administration is coordinating with other countries on a plan that would offer safe passage out of Gaza for civilians who risk getting caught in the crossfire, administration officials said.
American woman seeks answers about missing family in Israel
Scramble for shelter in Sderot as rockets launched from Gaza
SDEROT, Israel — Explosions happen quickly after rocket warnings in Sderot, about 2½ miles from the border with Gaza, as residents describe taking shelter from attacks.
More than 4,500 rockets have been fired from Gaza since Hamas attacked the country over the weekend, Israel’s military has said.
Israel has carried out airstrikes in response. The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that 2,294 Hamas targets have been struck.
A resident of Sderot described to NBC News’ Ellison Barber ducking as Hamas gunmen entered the town, peeking at them and hoping he would not be seen.
The closeness of towns like Sderot to Gaza means there is not much time after warnings about rockets or other attacks.
"It is literally seconds," Barber reported on NBC News Now. "Ten seconds or less to get into a shelter before you hear a boom, where it is intercepted, and then possibly have to worry about the possibility of shrapnel falling down or it strikes something."
Schumer ending Asia trip early to focus on Israel
A bipartisan group of senators who just met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing will return to the U.S. early “in light of the tragic events unfolding in Israel,” according to a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Schumer and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, are leading the delegation, which also includes Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; John Kennedy, R-La.; and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. The senators arrived in Shanghai on Saturday for a trip to China, South Korea and Japan.
The Schumer spokesperson said the senators will move up their meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to Wednesday and return to the U.S. on Thursday. The Japan leg of the trip has been canceled, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said in a notice.
Once Schumer is back in New York on Thursday evening, his spokesperson said, he will receive a classified briefing and updates on the Hamas terrorist attacks, meet with community leaders and attend Shabbat services.
In his meeting with Xi on Monday, Schumer criticized China’s initial statement on the violence in Israel and Gaza, which urged “relevant parties” to immediately cease hostilities and called for a two-state solution but did not explicitly condemn Hamas.
The Senate remains in recess until Monday.
IDF official: 1,200 people in Israel killed in attacks
The number of people killed in Israel in Hamas attacks has risen to 1,200 as officials have found more bodies, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said Wednesday morning local time.
More than 2,700 other Israelis have been wounded, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said in a video livestream.
Conricus said ground troops have been sent to areas around Gaza, “and they are now close to the Gaza Strip getting ready to execute the mission that they have been given.”
“That is to make sure that Hamas, at the end of this war, won’t have any military capabilities by which they can threaten or kill Israeli civilians. That is our military aim,” he said.
Conricus also said that Hamas has its offices and other assets in civilian buildings in Gaza and that they are legitimate military targets for air strikes.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said today that at least 900 people have been killed just in Gaza and that 4,500 have been injured.
Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ has never been more important as it fends off Hamas attacks
Israel designed its vaunted Iron Dome air defense system for instances just like this one as rockets have rained down from Hamas militants in neighboring Gaza.
The short-range system, which became fully operational in March 2011, has been “tested consistently” and “successfully prevented countless rockets from hitting Israeli communities,” according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.
Utah man among those killed in Hamas attack, Romney says
Lotan Abir, of Utah, was among the over 1,000 people killed in Israel in the Hamas attack on the country, including an attack on a music festival, Sen. Mitt Romney said today.
“Today, news of the loss of one of our own from Utah further tears at our collective heart. I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Lotan Abir — may he rest in peace,” Romney said in a statement.
Abir was at the music festival when he was killed, Rabbi Avremi Zippel of Chabad Lubavitch of Utah told The Salt Lake Tribune. He first moved to Utah late last year after he completed military service in Israel, Zippel told the newspaper.
Members of Congress call for charter flights, other help to get Americans home
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, more than 140 members of Congress urged that all available measures — including charter flights — be used to get Americans out of Israel.
“We ask that you consider charter flights and military options for evacuation, simultaneously,” wrote the lawmakers, including both Democrats and Republicans.
They said they have heard harrowing accounts from constituents trapped in Israel with no way home.
Some airlines, including American and Delta, have suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said officials have been in contact with U.S. citizens in Israel and in some cases have helped facilitate departures.
“The airport is still open. There are flights that are getting out of the airport in Tel Aviv. And so we encourage people to try to avail themselves of those options,” Miller said.
He said the State Department has also been talking to carriers and urging them to consider resuming travel in and out of Israel.
U.S. wants to create corridor that innocent Palestinians, Americans could use to escape Gaza
WASHINGTON — In a private phone call today, Biden urged Israel’s prime minister to minimize civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip as Israel sets out to destroy Hamas in reprisal for the deadliest attack the country has suffered in the last 50 years, two Biden administration officials and a former official told NBC News.
The Biden administration is coordinating with other countries on a plan that would offer safe passage out of Gaza for civilians who risk getting caught in the crossfire in the densely populated coastal enclave, administration officials said.
Palestinian civilians and Americans in Gaza would escape the war zone through a southern corridor leading into Egypt under the plan being considered.
With Israel preparing for a potential ground incursion into Gaza, civilians who have no connections to Hamas are in danger of being left homeless or being killed by the shelling.
Report: Propaganda network on X spread coordinated disinformation
Researchers have uncovered a propaganda network of 67 accounts on the X social platform that are coordinating a campaign of posting false, inflammatory content related to the Israel-Hamas war.
The research is believed to be the first concrete evidence that deliberate propaganda about the conflict has gone unchecked on the platform. Combined, the accounts’ misleading posts and videos have had millions of views.
The accounts previously showed no outward association, but they suddenly began posting similar content over the weekend, according to Alethea, a company that analyzes social media. In many cases, the accounts would post the exact same phrases. It’s not clear whether the accounts were created expressly to post the misinformation or whether they had been hacked or sold.