U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on the phone on Friday with family members of 14 missing Americans, according to the White House pool report.
Some of the 14 are presumed to be held hostages in the Gaza Strip after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,300 people and wounding thousands. As many as 150 civilians were reportedly taken hostage to Hamas-run Gaza.
Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor, and Roger Carstens, U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, were among other officials on the call.
“By ‘unaccounted for,’ we mean that. We don’t know where they are,” John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, told reporters in an Oct. 12 briefing.
Kirby told reporters on Friday that “a couple” of the family members of the 14 were on the call, per media reports. The spokesman “conveyed directly to these families that they have been in his prayers and reaffirmed for them that the United States government is doing everything possible” to bring their relatives home.
“Several of the family members shared information about their loved one’s personal stories and experiences that they have gone through as they endure the unimaginable,” he added, per reports.
