The White House revised down its estimate for American hostages held by Hamas Tuesday afternoon.
The Israeli military announced earlier in the day that Itay Chen, an Israeli American member of the Israel Defense Forces, was killed on Oct. 7 and that Hamas is still holding his body in Gaza. Chen was previously believed by the Biden administration to be one of the six American hostages held by Hamas.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed Chen’s death during Tuesday’s White House press briefing.
“This hits hard for us. This news, it hits hard for the president. It’s hard for me, it’s hard for a wide number of people who you guys have never heard of in the U.S. government who were working tirelessly for Itay’s release,” he told reporters. “I can’t imagine what the family is going through.”
“We’ve been straight with you from the start, and we haven’t been able to tell you the condition of the hostages, whether they are still alive, whether they’re in decent health, whether their injuries are causing grave concern,” he continued. “All we can do is work every day to try to generate a deal that gets all of the hostages home and for us.”
Pressed to clarify how many American hostages are still being held by Hamas, Sullivan confirmed that number is five.
“We believe that that number is five,” he stated. “It was six. We believe it is now five.”
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You can watch Tuesday’s briefing in full below.
