President Joe Biden was an hour and half late to his press conference on Tuesday to update the nation about the terror attacks in Israel.
He said that 14 Americans were murdered in the Saturday attacks by Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic terrorist organization, in addition to more than 1,000 Israelis. Thousands more were injured.
The president confirmed that U.S. citizens were also taken hostage.
He said that the U.S. would provide intelligence to the Israelis in their efforts to recover the hostages but he did not suggest that U.S. forces would be involved in any way in trying to rescue their fellow countrymen.
The 80-year-old president refused to answer questions from reporters about yet another foreign crisis that has erupted on his watch as experts and U.S. officials point to his weakness in foreign policy as a contributing factor.
Biden claimed that his administration stood with Israel and would be providing support but he failed to mention the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recent reports from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have said was behind the attacks.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said during the White House press conference that there were more than 20 Americans still unaccounted for, which he said did not necessarily mean that they had all been taken hostage.
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