President Joe Biden met with top U.S. officials Monday to discuss Washington’s response to an all-out war between Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as officials confirmed that the U.S.-designated terrorist group holds Americans among the hostages they seized in a weekend attack on Israel.

Biden “directed his team to follow up on coordination with Israel on all aspects of the crisis and to continue their work with regional partners to warn anyone who might seek to take advantage in this situation,” the White House said in a note circulated to journalists, adding that Biden is speaking to close allies.

U.S. State Department officials said Monday that Americans are among the numerous hostages seized by Hamas militants as part of their multi-pronged Saturday attack. Nine Americans are also among the dead, said spokesman Matthew Miller, who did not say how many Americans are being held hostage.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that 800 Israelis have been killed and more than 2,500 wounded. He echoed Palestinian health officials’ estimates that more than 500 Palestinians have been killed, adding that more than 3,000 have been wounded.

The number of hostages, Guterres said, numbered “over 100, possibly more,” including civilian women, children and the elderly.

“Some are being held hostage inside Israel and many others have been taken inside the Gaza Strip,” he said.

This situation poses an extraordinary challenge to Israeli leadership, wrote analyst Natan Sachs of the non-profit Brookings Institution.

“Israeli sensitivity to POWs and MIAs is world-record-setting,” he wrote, noting that Hamas’s current leader in Gaza was himself part of a swap of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier in 2011.

He added, “The Israeli government faces a conundrum: enter with force and risk many more Israeli casualties, both military and civilian. Refrain from it, and find yourself at the mercy of a terrorist organization on your border. Freeing all Hamas and Islamic jihad operatives from Israeli prisons, as these organizations demand, would be difficult for the Israeli government to agree to. Israel might eventually try to negotiate, or it might embark on risky rescue operations inside the Gaza Strip with the best case outcome being only partial success.”

Advocacy group J Street, which describes its membership as “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans,” encouraged the White House to show its support for Israel. On Saturday, hours after the initial attacks, Biden said his commitment to Israel remains “rock solid.”

“We are deeply worried for the safety of the Israeli people, including the hostages now in Gaza, as well as for the safety of the Palestinian civilians who are now caught in the crossfire,” the group said in a statement on Monday. J Street added, “We support the Biden Administration as they take all necessary measures to aid, support and reinforce our Israeli allies, as they combat Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and guard against the threat of further attacks on additional fronts.”

Margaret Besheer at the U.N. and Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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