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'More Families Have Now Gotten the Worst Possible News': Biden Admin Announces Increased US Death Toll in Israel

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The death toll of Americans killed when Hamas terrorists stormed Israeli communities on Saturday has now risen to 27.

“I’ll start with the saddest of news. We can now update the number of Americans that we know have been killed to 27, and the number of unaccounted for stands today at 14. We’re obviously doing everything we can to support and inform the families,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said Thursday in a video posted to on social media.

“Now, sadly, five more families have now gotten the worst possible news that any family can conceive of getting. And we’re going to stay in touch with them as appropriate,” he said.

“Same goes for those family members of those who are unaccounted for. And by ‘unaccounted for,’ we mean that. We don’t know where they are. They don’t know where they are,” he said.

American Deborah Matias and her husband Shlomi Matias were killed while she was on the phone with her father, Ilan Troen said, according to CNN.

“We were on the phone with Deborah as she was killed,” Troen said.

Should Hamas be fully dismantled?

“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.

“The brunt of the shot was borne by his mother. The terrorists who came, they had explosives and blew up the front door to their house and then blew out the front door to their so-called safe room.”

Rotem, 16, will recover from being shot in the stomach, his grandfather said.

Roey Weiser, 21, an American-Israeli serving with the Israeli Army, was at the Kerem Shalom border crossing and died there, Naomi Feifer-Weiser, his mother, said.

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“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,” she said.

“Roey lived his life to the fullest, almost always with a smile on his face,” she said. “He was always looking for ways to help those around him, and before he was conscripted, he was a volunteer firefighter who was always the first to jump into action when needed.”

Hayim Katsman, 32, had received his doctorate from the University of Washington in 2021 but chose to live in Israel to devote his life to making peace for Israelis and Palestinians, according to The Washington Post.

His dissertation was dedicated to “all life forms that exist between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

Katsman hid in a closet with a neighbor, Avital Alajem, when terrorists hit his kibbutz. He was standing closest to the door and took the bullets that were fired at the hiding place.

“He was murdered,” Alajem said. “I was saved.”


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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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