Blinken to visit Israel in show of support after unprecedented Hamas attack

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Oct 10, 2023

President Joe Biden speaks on the terrorist attacks in Israel. — President Joe Biden speaks on the terrorist attacks in Israel alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken from the State Dining Room at the White House on Oct. 7, 2023, in Washington. The White House has said that senior national security officials have briefed the president on the attacks on Israel that were carried out by Hamas overnight and White House officials remain in close contact with their counterparts in Israel. — Samuel Corum/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Thursday in a show of support, less than a week after Hamas launched one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.

“Blinken will be traveling to Israel in the coming days to engage our Israeli partners directly about the situation on the ground, and how we can continue to best support them in their fight against the terrorists who launched these horrific attacks,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters Tuesday.

Miller said Blinken has been working the phones with his foreign counterparts to relay the message that countries with lines of communication to Hamas should urge the militants to immediately release the hostages.

In what the Pentagon dubbed “ISIS-level savagery,” Hamas on Sunday mounted a multifront attack on Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and taking an unprecedented number of hostages, including women and children, into the militant-run Gaza Strip.