State Department: At least 22 American citizens KILLED (so far) in Israel-Hamas conflict

The Department of State has disclosed that as of Oct. 12, at least 22 American citizens were killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Among the first identified American victims was 32-year-old Hayim Katsman, who had been residing in Israel. Hayim recently received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington‘s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, with his research focusing on the interrelations of religion and politics in Israel and Palestine.

According to Hannah Katsman, Hayim’s mother, she learned that her son was killed when Hamas militants forcibly entered his apartment. Hayim and a female neighbor sought refuge in a closet, but the militants found them. The neighbor was released, but Hayim was tragically shot and found dead in his apartment.

Another American victim was a 24-year-old Lotan Abir from Utah, who had been living in Israel for nine months. Abir and a group of friends were attending a rave near the border with Gaza on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked. Unfortunately, Abir was killed, while his friends managed to survive.

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) expressed his condolences to Abir’s family and all those affected by the tragedy. “The horrific, inhumane and depraved terrorist acts perpetrated by Hamas against Israelis have touched everyone around the world. 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 stated.

In another tragic incident, Deborah and Shlomi Mathias, an American couple living in Israel, lost both their lives. Their son Rotem, a dual Israeli-American citizen, survived the attack.

Rotem recounted the horrifying moments when Hamas militants stormed their kibbutz in southern Israel on Oct. 7. The boy said he tried to barricade the doors of their home with whatever he could find, but it proved futile. The militants opened fire on their house while his parents protected him from the gunfire. “The last thing my dad said is he lost his arm, and then my mom died on top of me.”

The exact number of Americans who are missing or may have been taken hostage remains unclear.

Blinken: Recent Hamas attack the worst on Israel since 1973

During an appearance on CNN‘s “State of the Union” on Oct. 8, Secretary of State Antony Blinken strongly condemned the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

“This is the worst attack on Israel since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, but there is a big difference. That was a conventional war between countries, between armies. This is a massive terrorist attack on Israeli civilians,” Blinken said.

The Yom Kippur War, which began with a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in October 1973, killed over 2,500 Israelis, along with thousands of Egyptian and Syrian casualties.

Similarly, the Hamas militant group caught Israel and its allies off-guard with a surprise attack on Oct. 7, one day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. However, the recent attack is much worse than the 1973 war.

Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel while dozens of heavily armed gunmen breached a barrier along Israel’s southern border. Israel promptly responded with retaliatory airstrikes on targets in Gaza.

Blinken assured the public that they were doing their best to monitor the situation. “We have reports that several Americans were killed. We’re working overtime to verify that. At the same time, there are reports of missing Americans, and there again, we’re working to verify those reports,” Blinken told CNN.

Visit Terrorism.news for more updates on the ongoing conflict between the Hamas militant group and Israel.

Watch this video discussing the surprising large-scale attack of the Hamas militant group on Israel.

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Sources include:

Breitbart.com

ABCNews.go.com

Politico.com

Brighteon.com