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More Americans are confirmed to have died in the Hamas attack on Israel over the weekend as the death toll continues to rise.
At least 22 Americans were among the 1,200 people killed in the attacks on Saturday (October 7), while another 150 individuals, including some U.S. citizens, are reported to be held hostage by Hamas, the New York Post reports.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who had confirmed that at least 14 American citizens were among the casualties and called the Hamas attack "an act of sheer evil," claimed he had "no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world."
On Wednesday (October 11), the Gaza Ministry of Energy announced that the Gaza Strip's sole power plant has run out of fuel amid an Israeli blockade. The energy ministry said it was forced to shut down after supplies were cut off, leaving only generators to power the territory, while hundreds of thousands are displaced. The announcement comes after Israel launched a retaliation strike on the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, which resulted in at least 1,055 deaths, according to Palestinian officials via CNN.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, "we are in a war," in a video shared on social media after the attacks, which included land, air and sea as Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel's southern border and fired rockets from the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu ordered an "extensive reserve mobilization" in retaliation for the unprecedented attacks.