The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, reported on her account of the social network X (formerly, Twitter) that a Mexican man and a woman "have allegedly been taken hostage by the Hamas group, in Gaza, this Saturday." "We are in contact with authorities in Israel and relatives to give follow-up, support and attention," Bárcena added Sunday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Sunday that the United States is trying to verify reports that several Americans may be among those killed in the Hamas attack, and that Americans may be among the hostages taken to Palestinian territories.
[Israel declares 'long and difficult' war on Hamas]
In response to an NBC News reporter, Blinken said, "We have reports that several Americans may be among the dead. We are working very actively to check this. Similarly, we've seen reports of hostages and, again, we're very actively trying to check that out and nail down that." Asked again whether some U.S. citizens might also have been taken hostage, Blinken replied: "That's right."
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer later said Americans among the hostages, but without elaborating; He did not clarify whether there were also among the deceased. "We have many dual citizens in Israel," he told CNN.
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The French Foreign Ministry said Sunday that a French citizen was killed "in the context of the terrorist attacks," without elaborating, but adding that several other people have not been located.
Germany, for its part, indicated that it must assume that there are several citizens of that country kidnapped by Hamas; He did not say how many, but he did say he believed they also had Israeli citizenship.
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The Israeli Security Cabinet officially approved this Sunday "the state of war", according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the social network X (before, Twitter). The Israeli parliament gave the green light to "take meaningful military measures based on Article 40 of the Basic Law," he added, referring to the constitution's rule on declarations of war or large-scale military operations.
"This war was imposed on the State of Israel in a murderous terrorist assault from the Gaza Strip at six o'clock yesterday morning," the prime minister told a country in shock over the unprecedented attack perpetrated by militants of the Palestinian organization Hamas (considered terrorist by the United States) from the Gaza Strip. that ended the lives of hundreds of Israelis in the south of the country and took fifty hostages to Palestinian territory.
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Netanyahu warned that it will be "a long and difficult war", while his army is still fighting "on several fronts" with Palestinian militants, according to a spokesman for the Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, who also said that, under rocket and mortar fire, his guerrillas had carried out "new infiltration operations" in Israel.
At least 44 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the attack. In total, the death toll in Israel exceeds 600, according to local media, although 250 have officially been confirmed. In addition, more than 300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian health authorities.