Asked by Fox News if he completely ruled out any involvement of US forces on the ground, Kirby said: “I can’t rule anything out when it comes to getting our hostages home.”
Hamas is believed to be holding over 100 people hostage, including civilians, Israeli soldiers and an unknown number of Americans. On Saturday, the US State Department said 15 Americans were still missing, but Washington emphasized that this did not necessarily mean they had been kidnapped.
“We are working on this issue literally hourly,” Kirby said, adding that the US does not have enough information at this stage, such as where exactly the hostages are, nor how many there are, and in this situation, he said, there is still no way to identify them. specific measures.
“There are no plans or intentions to have US troops on the ground to participate in the fighting between Israel and Hamas,” Kirby told Fox’s Shannon Bream.
The spokesman added that the US is currently “trying hard to find out where the hostages are and exactly how many there are”. “We’ve seen a few, we know there could be more, we know they could be in different groups, it’s possible they’re constantly moving,” Kirby said, noting that Washington needed to be “careful” in its public statements. , when it comes to the release of hostages.
Fighting in Israel and Gaza, which erupted after the Palestinian movement Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killed more than 3,600 people on both sides, most of them civilians, and injured thousands. On Saturday, the US State Department confirmed the deaths of 27 Americans.
Hamas forces have vowed to execute Israeli hostages if Israel continues to bomb the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian movement said Israeli airstrikes killed 13 hostages on Friday, The Hill reported.
2023-10-16 09:11:27
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