During a Sunday interview, Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that the Biden administration has no knowledge about the status of the ten Americans who are currently unaccounted for in the aftermath of Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7.
Blinken made the comments during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with moderator Kristen Welker — who asked him if he believed the ten missing Americans were being held hostage by Hamas.
“We don’t know,” the secretary of state responded. “As you said, we’ve got 10 unaccounted-for Americans. We believe that some significant number are hostages. But, you know, what’s happening is — and it just underscores the horror — Israel continues to discover, uncover people who were killed, who were slaughtered — and I use that term very advisedly — slaughtered on October 7.”
“So what we don’t know for sure is whether some of the unaccounted for are dead and have simply not been uncovered yet, or whether they’re hostage,” Blinken added. “But we have a pretty strong idea that some number of the 10 at least are being held in Gaza by Hamas.”
Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken says they "don't know" the status of the ten Americans who remain unaccounted for following the Hamas terrorist attacks, but they "believe that some significant number are hostages" pic.twitter.com/JJHyFz1JwD
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 22, 2023
At least 1,400 people were killed in the October 7 terrorist attacks, including 32 Americans — while at least 3,000 people were injured, and hundreds were kidnapped by the terrorists.
Blinken previously announced that ten Americans were unaccounted for and several of those were likely among the roughly 200 hostages still being held by the Palestinian terror group. Two American hostages — Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan — have since been released by Hamas.
Sec. of State Antony Blinken confirms 2 Americans Hamas held hostage have been released, but says 10 additional Americans are unaccounted for.
“We know some of them are being held hostage by Hamas, along with an estimated 200 other hostages held in Gaza … from many nations.” pic.twitter.com/4E6snkyFcI
— The Recount (@therecount) October 20, 2023
During his Sunday interview, Blinken noted that he couldn’t explain why the Raanans were released.
“We don’t know why Hamas chose to release Natalie and Judith first,” he said. “And I use the word ‘first’ advisedly because again, we’re hopeful that more follow. I can’t speak to that. What I can speak to is our incessant efforts from day one to try to get people home, to try to get them out of Gaza back with their families and loved ones. That is continuing as we speak. This is something we’re engaged in virtually around the clock.”
