The United States is preparing its special forces to help Israel search for American hostages, as waves of Israeli Defense Forces reservists arrived at JFK Airport in New York to join the fight against Hamas.
Two senior U.S. military officials told The Messenger that “door openers” had been put on standby in a nearby European country to support Israel in the fight against Hamas if needed. The Israeli death toll rose to 1,200 on Tuesday.
The military sources told the website that there is currently no sign that the US special forces will be sent to Israel, but they are only a few hours’ flight away if necessary.
Military officials would not confirm which units were being prepared but said they were under the Joint Special Operations Command.
The Joint Special Operations Command’s two main counterterrorism units are the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team Six, which was sent to kill Osama bin Laden.
IDF reservists dance at JFK airport as they wait for the flight back to Tel Aviv
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the United States had also sent hostage takers to help Israeli specialists.
Twenty Americans remain missing in Israel after the weekend’s Hamas attack, including some whose relatives say they were taken hostage.
Austin said the U.S. had “people on the ground” helping Israeli authorities “with intelligence and planning” for possible hostage rescue operations.
The U.S. hostage negotiations will work with an existing team working out of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, The Messenger reported.
Austin said the Pentagon has a “liaison cell” in Israel that works with Israeli special forces.
Austin also said the U.S. has the ability to “quickly deploy other resources in the region.”
President Joe Biden dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and five guided-missile cruisers and destroyers to the scene, arriving Tuesday.
“The arrival of these highly capable forces in the region sends a strong signal of deterrence should any anti-Israel actor consider exploiting this situation,” said Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who heads U.S. Central Command.
On Sunday, Austin said the warships would carry U.S. Air Force fighter jets “to bolster regional deterrence efforts” – an attempt to dissuade Iran or Hezbollah from exploiting the conflict and joining.
On Monday, a senior defense official said the strike group “can conduct a full spectrum of missions, from intelligence gathering to maritime supremacy to long-range strikes. “This will ensure that the United States is able to respond to any eventuality and minimize the risk of attacks as a conflict continues to spread and threaten stability.”
The Pentagon is considering supplying Israel with more weapons and working with defense companies to increase their production.
“These posture elevations should serve as an unequivocal demonstration of U.S. support for Israel’s defense in action, not just in words, and as a deterrent signal to Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and any other proxies in the region that might consider exploiting it.” “The current situation is leading to an escalation of the conflict,” the official said.
“These opponents should think twice.”
In New York City on Monday, crowds of IDF reservists gathered to board planes to Israel and join the fight.
The country has unprecedentedly called up more than 300,000 reservists for what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “massive attack” on the terrorist group Hamas.
Some reservists danced and sang as they prepared to board their flight from JFK.
Delta Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines have all suspended flights to Israel due to travel advisories from the State Department, but El Al continues to fly. Ticket prices have skyrocketed, but charities are funding tickets for many who want to return and help, The Times of Israel reported.
Noam, an Israeli who lives in New York and served in the IDF’s special forces, told the newspaper he was called up for reserve duty on Monday morning.
He was at the airport at 1 p.m. and checked in for a 4 p.m. flight.
“They have already been drafted together, so I am just waiting to join them,” he told the newspaper.
Another man had flown to JFK from his home in Kansas that morning.
“They just told us to come here and they would take care of it,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re here.”
The reservists were motivated by the flood of horrific stories coming out of Israel, with first-hand accounts of atrocities committed by Hamas.
Survivors reported their horror when the Islamists arrived. Relatives spoke of their despair over murdered or missing relatives. Soldiers recounted the almost unimaginable horror they experienced after Hamas was driven out of the areas surrounding Gaza.
David Ben Zion, deputy commander of Unit 71, told i24News that he saw victims beheaded, including children.
“We went door to door and killed a lot of terrorists,” he said.
“We are stronger than them.” They are aggressive, they are very evil.
“They cut off children’s heads, cut off women’s heads. But we are stronger than them.”
David Ben Zion, deputy commander of Unit 71, told i24News that he saw victims beheaded, including children
The bullet-riddled bodies of Israeli residents of a kibbutz lay among burned-out houses, scattered furniture and torched cars.
Up to 40 babies and toddlers were killed, IDF soldiers told i24News after taking them to the site of the atrocity.
Harrowing images from the crime scene showed a baby’s bed covered in blood; Her little bloody dress lay next to it.
Israeli soldiers were seen comforting each other after witnessing such horrors, including the bodies of entire families shot dead in their beds.
“You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their shelters and how the terrorist kills them,” said Israeli Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv.
“It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield.” It’s a massacre, it’s a terrorist activity.
“It is something I have never seen in my life.” This is what we imagined from our grandfathers and grandmothers during the pogroms in Europe and elsewhere. “That doesn’t happen in the new story.”
Israeli soldiers on Tuesday recovered the body of a compatriot who was killed in an attack by Hamas terrorists in Kfar Aza
A child’s seat and a child’s dress are seen covered in blood after a Hamas attack
Gunshots and bloodstains can be seen on a door and walls of a house where civilians were killed days earlier in a Hamas attack on this kibbutz near the Gaza border on Tuesday
Israeli soldiers say Hamas terrorists beheaded babies and shot entire families in their homes on a small kibbutz in Israel
Outside the destroyed homes, the soldiers told i24News correspondent Nicole Zedek (pictured) how they saw the bodies of babies with severed heads next to their cribs, a sign of the depraved acts committed by the terrorists since their attack on Israel on Saturday have
The stench of the corpses hung heavily in the air as the soldiers showed journalists the kibbutz, which is popular with families.
The small soccer nets in which children would have played soccer could be seen on a grassy area – but in the background the bodies of families lay on the ground.
Outside one of the kibbutz’s small houses, a resident’s body was covered with a purple sheet with a bare foot sticking out. A pillow and other items from the house were scattered.
Elsewhere, the bodies of the gunmen lay face down on the ground. A destroyed gate on the edge of the kibbutz showed where the gunmen had entered.
The terrorists went on a rampage, killing hundreds of Israelis and taking dozens hostage in places like Kfar Aza, near Sderot.
Some of the houses had been almost completely destroyed in the attack and the walls had collapsed and burned down.
Israeli troops went house to house to recover civilian bodies in body bags. They had previously failed to conquer it as they were still fighting gunmen and working their way through booby traps.
A soldier shouted, “Tell the world what you saw here.”
Soldiers were still securing the paths of the kibbutz, which consisted of one-story houses with porches, palm trees and banana trees, when gunshots and explosions were heard in the distance.
“What the journalists saw today was a massacre: children, women and the elderly were slaughtered,” said Nir Dinar, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman.
“They are animals worse than Isis.”
He said the number of victims was in “dozens,” adding: “We’re still counting.”
The United States has confirmed that 14 Americans are among the dead and at least 20 are missing, believed to have been taken hostage.
Among them are 18-year-old Chicago high school graduate Natalie Raanan and her mother, and 34-year-old Daniel Ben Sr., whose father says she was working at the Nova music festival when Hamas terrorists struck.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, is another American currently held captive by Hamas. His mother says his arm was “blasted off” from the elbow down.
“Unfortunately, that’s what we heard about Hersh.” [from eyewitnesses] is that his arm was blown away from the elbow down. “He severed his own arm,” Rachel Golberg told CNN.
Goldberg-Polin moved to Israel with his family in 2008 after initially attending elementary school in Los Angeles.
Natalie Ranaan was visiting her family with her mother Judith for the High Holidays when the attack began on Saturday. The relatives have not heard from either woman since then
Raanan and her mother visited family in Israel for the High Holidays
Judith Raanan and her daughter were also taken hostage. Their family in Illinois hasn’t heard from them since Saturday
Daniel Ben Sr., 34, was working at the Nova festival on Saturday when Hamas militants attacked. She hasn’t been seen since
Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 35-year-old American citizen, is among the missing
Itay Chen, a US citizen fighting in the Israel Defense Forces, is also missing
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father: “I love you.” I’m sorry” at 8:11 a.m. Saturday — as Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, taking dozens of people hostage and killing hundreds during the killed on the Jewish holiday
Adrienne Neta, 66, is also missing. She is a nurse and midwife who moved to Israel from California in 1981
Adrienne’s son Nahal cried at a news conference today where he and families of other missing Americans pleaded for information and help
The families of missing Americans begged for information in Tel Aviv on Tuesday
The families of some of the prisoners held a press conference in Tel Aviv to raise awareness of the situation.
Her missing relatives include Itay Chen, a former New Yorker who served in the Israel Defense League.
“You would think that after 70 hours he could be somewhere else if he is not in the State of Israel.” He is by definition a prisoner of war.
“We call on the US government to call on Hamas to treat him the way a prisoner of war should be treated,” said his father Rubi.
Sisters Norelle and Roya Manzuri, who attended Temple Israel of Hollywood school, are missing along with Amit Cohen.
Murdered: Debbie, a Missouri native, and Shlomi Matias were killed in front of their son on Saturday
The families of missing Americans in Israel gathered for a news conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to tell their stories
Sagui Deke-Chen, 35, is also missing. His father, Jonathan, spoke at the news conference along with the families of other U.S. citizens taken hostage.
Adrienne Neta, 66, is missing. Her son Nahar is desperately trying to find her.
He accused the Israeli government of failing to provide information about efforts to search for missing persons.
The Biden administration says it will do “everything it can” to bring the hostages home, but it is unclear whether that will extend to negotiations with Hamas.
“We will do everything we can to bring her home.”
“I don’t want to get too far ahead of where we are,” Kirby said
Israel’s response to Saturday’s attack continued today with dozens of airstrikes.
Hamas, a designated terrorist group, continues to fire rockets.