US White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby holds a news briefing at the White House in Washington, US, Aug. 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Bourg

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre at a press conference on Wednesday announced that the American death toll in the Hamas massacre in Israel on Saturday had risen to 22, with 17 Americans unaccounted for and possibly hostages.

Speaking at the same press conference, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that those numbers are likely to increase.

“We know that a number of those Americans are being held hostage right now, but I think we all need to steel ourselves for the very distinct possibility that these numbers will keep increasing, and that we may in fact, find out that more Americans are part of the hostage pool,” Kirby said.

Hamas is believed to have taken more than 100 hostages into Gaza during Saturday’s terrorist onslaught that killed more than 1,200 people. 

Asked Wednesday about a potential hostage negotiation effort and the status of the hostages, Kirby said that the US is in communication with the Israeli government and other regional partners and allies but that the condition of the hostages is unknown.

“We’re in discussions not only with the Israelis about what hostage recovery could look like, but with other allies and partners in the region. And there are some countries like Qatar that have open lines of communication with Hamas. So, we’re casting the net wide,” Kirby said. “We want to get all the hostages back with their families, particularly the American hostages, no question about that.”

“Sadly,” Kirby continued, “we don’t know [where the hostages are or what condition they’re in.] And that makes efforts very, very difficult. Again, these are early hours, but we don’t know where they are, we don’t know if they’re all in one group or broken up into several groups. We don’t know if they’re being moved and with what frequency and to what locations. All of those questions, we’re working hard to answer.”

Kirby declined to comment on whether any communications were taking place with Hamas itself about the hostages. Hamas on Monday said that it would begin executing hostages in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, though it’s unclear if they have carried through on that threat.