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‘This is not some distant tragedy’: Biden drapes White House in blue and white as US death toll rises to 11
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden said at least 11 Americans are dead among the hundreds killed in Israel during Hamas’s invasion of the country.
The president added that law enforcement agencies were working to secure Jewish American institutions amidst fears of copycat violence on U.S. soil.
Biden also ordered the White House to be bathed in blue and white light on Monday night, the colors of the Israeli flag, a signal of support for Israel as it copes with an invasion from Gaza that has so far killed at least 900 people and wounded thousands more. More than a hundred people are believed to be abducted, among them American citizens.
“This is not some distant tragedy,” he said in an impassioned and lengthy statement Monday evening. “The ties between Israel and the United States run deep.”
There were similar pledges of support in Congress, with lawmakers in both parties uniting in pro-Israel messages even as the institution is in a degree of disarray, with no functioning speaker in the U.S. House of Representatives following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.
The State Department, meanwhile, created a dedicated online form for Americans seeking information about loved ones in Israel. The department also publicized a hotline, 833-890-9595.
The number Biden cited, 11, is two more than the nine the State Department reported earlier Monday, and comes as online reports of missing Americans proliferated, including two young women who were at an outdoor party where Hamas terrorists invading from Gaza slaughtered at least 260 young people and abducted others.
Biden confirmed reports that Americans were likely abducted.
“While we are still working to confirm, we believe it is likely that American citizens may be among those being held by Hamas,” he said.
Social media posts asking for information about missing Americans proliferated among relatives and friends of people who were at the outdoor party. Joining Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American whose family announced that he was missing from the party on Sunday, were pleas for information about Ayelet Arnin, an American citizen, and Gili Adar, who worked at Young Judaea’s Camp Tel Yehudah in upstate New York. Both attended the outdoor event.
“AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HELP US BRING HER HOME,” read a flier circulating on social media asking for information on Arnin’s whereabouts.
In his statement, Biden cast the attacks as being in a long line of deadly attacks on Jews over the course of history.
“It is personal for so many American families who are feeling the pain of this attack as well as the scars inflicted through millennia of antisemitism and persecution of Jewish people,” he said.
Biden said the government was on alert for the type of domestic attacks that have followed past Israeli-Palestinian conflagrations. A string of assaults on Jews followed Israel’s last major conflict with Hamas, in 2021.
“In cities across the country, police departments have stepped up security around centers of Jewish life, and the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal law enforcement partners are closely monitoring for any domestic threats in connection with the horrific terrorist attacks in Israel,” he said.
The president also referenced the 9/11 attacks, an analogy several commentators have made in recent days.
“We remember the pain of being attacked by terrorists at home, and Americans across the country stand united against these evil acts that have once more claimed innocent American lives,” he said.
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The post ‘This is not some distant tragedy’: Biden drapes White House in blue and white as US death toll rises to 11 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.