WASHINGTON, DC: The celebration of the Sukkot festival in Israel turned into devastation on Saturday, October 7, when a full-fledged surprise attack was unleashed from the air, sea, and ground by hoards of Hamas militants.
The Palestinian militant organization, based in Gaza, shook the Middle Eastern country, with a bombardment of an estimated 2,000 missiles that sparked terror and left hundreds of bodies in the bloody streets of decimated cities.
As Israeli citizens ran for their lives, Hamas militants broke into houses, shot residents begging for their lives, and took others — including women, children, and the elderly — hostage before driving them back to their Gaza hideouts.
Following the brutal attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally declared war against Palestine, promising that IDF would "use all its force to destroy Hamas's capabilities" and to take "mighty vengeance for this black day."
Reports confirmed that among the dead are at least 14 American citizens, according to President Joe Biden, who claimed that an undetermined number had been taken hostage by Hamas too.
Moreover, according to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, “20 or more Americans” are missing, as reported by CNN.
Israel reported around 1,200 fatalities as of Wednesday, October 11, and there are still a large number of unaccounted-for dead. Gaza officials also stated that nearly 900 people have been killed in the strip after Israel retaliated with airstrikes there, per CNN.
“I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts because as President, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being a hostage around the world,” the 80-year-old POTUS said in the statement on Tuesday, October 10.
Who are the American citizens killed or reported missing in Israel?
US officials have not revealed the identity of any of the missing or deceased Americans, but according to media and family sources, several of them appeared to hold dual citizenship of the US and Israel.
At least some of them also lived in small agricultural communities near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Hayim Katsman
The 32-year-old Katsman was one of the American citizens identified to have been killed in Israel during Hamas’ brutal attack. His mother Hannah Katsman told ABC that he was hiding in a closet with a neighbor, Avital Alajem, when Hamas militants burst into his apartment.
Alajem stated to CNN that Katsman was the closest to the door and his body absorbed the bullets to keep her alive. “I was saved because he was next to the door,” she said while describing him as “a good soul in this world.”
Katsman’s mother grew up in Cincinnati, while his father, Daniel Katsman, is from Seattle. Hayim, the second of six siblings, was born a year after the family relocated to Israel in 1990.
Hayim Katsman received his PhD in 2021, with his dissertation concentrating on "the interrelations of religion and politics in the Middle East, with a focus on Israel/Palestine," according to the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.
Deborah Matias and her husband, Shlomi
The 50-year-old Deborah and her husband Shlomi Matias were killed by Hamas militants as they shielded their 16-year-old son, Rotem, with their bodies.
Debroh’s father, Ilan Troen, a professor emeritus from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, revealed that he was speaking to his daughter when militants infiltrated the safe room the family was in.
“We were on the phone with Deborah as she was killed,” Troen said, adding “We were on the phone the entire day with our grandson, Rotem, as he lay first under her body, and then found a place to escape under a blanket in a laundry.”
Troen said after getting shot, Rotem hid for more than 12 hours while messaging others to get assistance on how to breathe and how to deal with "the blood that was coming out of his abdomen.”
His phone battery was at four percent when Israeli officers recused him. He is said to be in good condition now. Troen told CNN that Deborah Matias attended the Rimon School of Music in the Tel Aviv area, where she met her husband.
Roey Weiser
Weiser, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier, was also among the citizens who died during Saturday’s attack, his mother, Naomi Feifer-Weiser confirmed to CNN.
Weiser was a sergeant who served in the Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion and was sent to the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
“He died how he lived, by putting others first, and when his base was overrun by terrorists, he went on his own to divert their attention allowing others to escape. Because of his bravery, at least 12 other soldiers are alive today,” Weiser’s mother said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin
The 23-year-old Goldberg-Polin, who has been reported missing, was among thousands of revelers who ran for their lives after militants opened fire at the Tribe of Nova music festival in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel border.
Goldberg-Polin's parents were Chicago natives, but he was born in California. They learned from eyewitnesses that he fled the festival in a car and sought safety in a public bomb shelter.
During a press conference, his mother, Rachel Goldberg, stated he was loaded onto a pickup truck with three other young men and two women.
She expressed that she has faith in the Biden administration’s efforts to find the missing Americans, including her son.
“Every American citizen who is being held hostage, especially critically wounded citizens, they should be treated, released, traded, whatever it has to be,” she said, according to The Washington Post.
Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter, Natalie
During a conference, Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, the executive director of Chabad of Evanston noted that the 59-year-old Evanston citizen Raanan and her daughter Natalie have not been heard from since Saturday.
Klein said the mother-daughter duo went missing when they were visiting relatives at a kibbutz near Gaza. Natalie had just graduated from Deerfield High School, where she is known as a talented artist.
“This was a woman that was full of hope,” Rabbi Klein said of Judith Raanan, adding “And I know she has a resilience to overcome her tormentors,” per The New York Times.
