National security advisor Jake Sullivan promised to visit the families of American hostages over a month after they were taken by Hamas.
Sullivan appeared on ABC’s This Week and CNN’s State of the Union in back-to-back interviews on Sunday to offer an update on the hostages. According to the national security advisor, there are nine Americans and one green card holder missing since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
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“I will personally be seeing family members of the American hostages this coming week,” Sullivan promised, while acknowledging the number of hostages is anything but precise. “We know the number of missing and that’s the number the Israelis have given. But we don’t know how many of those are still alive.”
Hamas is known to have strongholds across hospitals and other civilian facilities in order to store weaponry and house fighters, according to Sullivan. However, he did not confirm whether the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City specifically is a hub for Hamas, as it was a matter of “intelligence.” Sullivan continued to stress the importance of protecting as many civilians as possible as Israel fights Hamas.
In total, Hamas is holding roughly 250 hostages and has released very few since capturing them. Currently, Sullivan claimed the US is involved in negotiations with Israel, Qatar, Egypt and others to release the hostages in exchange for a pause in violence.
During an appearance on State of the Union, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not say how long of a pause he’d be willing to offer, as he is staunchly against any sort of ceasefire.
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It has been more than five weeks since Hamas first launched thousands of rockets into Israel and sent fighters to invade on Oct. 7. The resulting war has killed over 11,000 Palestinians along with over 1,200 Israelis, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is slated to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. China is another that is seemingly holding Americans hostage as three citizens are considered wrongfully detained by the republic. They have been detained for several years.
