Joe Biden vowed to do “everything in his power” to free American citizens held hostage by Hamas in an interview, an excerpt of which was broadcast on CBS on Friday.
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The American president is due to speak via video conference on Friday with American families whose relatives could be arrested by the Palestinian Islamist group, according to CBS.
“We will do everything we can to bring her home if we can find her,” Joe Biden said in this very short excerpt.
The full interview is scheduled to air on Sunday.
The families “need to know that the president of the United States is deeply concerned about what happened to them,” said the 80-year-old Democrat, who has resolutely taken on the role of Israel’s main supporter.
What the Palestinian group did “is not even human behavior. It’s pure barbarism,” Joe Biden said again.
According to Washington, at least 27 Americans were killed.
The American president pointed out on Tuesday that US citizens were among those “arrested by Hamas,” although Washington did not yet give an exact number.
At least 1,300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel since hostilities began, sparked by a bloody Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, according to the Israeli army.
Israeli bombings in response to the Palestinian enclave killed 1,537 people, including 500 children, according to local authorities.
Hamas said it was holding around 150 hostages. Thirteen of them, including foreigners, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Palestinian Islamist movement said on Friday.