Houston-born soldier reunited with father in Israeli hospital after he is shot in the face and recovers on breathing tube following Hamas attack
- The unnamed soldier is unable to speak and has no known family nearby
- He is being looked after by a women’s group in a hospital in Jerusalem
- It comes after nine Americans have been confirmed killed in attacks in Israel
An American-born soldier from Houston is in hospital on a breathing tube after being shot in the face during an attack in Israel, according to reports.
The unnamed 24-year-old is now recovering after facial surgery with his father by his side after medics and the Israeli army tracked down his family, the Hadassah Medical Center told DailyMail.com.
The soldier is said to be ‘very traumatized’ by his injuries, which were sustained as an as of yet unknown location.
He was placed on a tracheotomy – a breathing tube – and is unable to speak, but gave a ‘thumbs up’ to caregivers.
It comes after the US State Department confirmed Monday nine Americans were killed in Israel during Hamas’ massive terrorist attack that began Saturday morning.
Plumes of smoke rise in the sky of Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on Monday
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday there are ‘indications’ that Americans were kidnapped and killed by Hamas terrorists in Israel over the weekend and said his agency is working ‘overtime’ to confirm reports
Authorities are desperately trying to locate an unknown number of missing US citizens.
More than 700 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday, including 260 people massacred by Hamas gunmen at a music festival.
State Department Spokesman Matt Miller said it had been ‘offering consular assistance to the families’ of American citizens ‘who have lost their lives as a result of these horrific attacks’.
He told MSNBC that authorities ‘continue to work’ to confirm the number of missing Americans and to locate them.
‘We don’t have solid information about either the number of where they might be,’ he added. ‘We will continue to work through that with the government of Israel as they continue to take back towns in southern Israel that were attacked by Hamas.’
Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer said on CNN on Sunday that ‘scores of hostages’ were taken into Gaza. ‘I can tell you there’s also American hostages as part of that number as well,’ Dermer added.
The injured Houston soldier is being kept company at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem by Rhoda Smolow, the president of the women’s Zionist group Hadassah, until his family can be contacted.
‘He is on a tracheotomy, so we couldn’t speak, and apparently, according to the caregivers there, the nurses and the doctors, they felt he is very traumatized,’ she told The Times of Israel. ‘We felt so terribly that he was in the room alone without anyone.’
The group’s CEO, Naomi Adler, discussed the soldier in a briefing held by the Jewish Federations of North America and the American Jewish Committee on Sunday.
It comes after it was revealed an American man sent a chilling text message to his parents while he attended a desert party in Israel – moments before Hamas terrorists launched a devastating attack.
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father ‘I love you, I’m sorry’ at 8.11am on Saturday – as callous Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, took dozens of people as hostage and killed hundreds during the Jewish high holiday.
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father ‘I love you. I’m sorry’ at 8.11am on Saturday – as Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, took dozens of people as hostage and killed hundreds during the Jewish high holiday
Born in Berkeley, California , Hersh and his family moved to Jerusalem when he was just seven-years-old
Born in Berkeley, California, Hersh and his family moved to Jerusalem when he was just seven-years-old.
His family have no idea where he is – and they are now fearing for his life, after he spent the evening at the desert rave near the Gaza Strip that was infiltrated and ambushed by Palestinian terrorists.
Ilan Troen, a professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said that his daughter Deborah Matias, 50, and her husband, Shlomi, were killed when Hamas fighters attacked their community in southern Israel.
The Boston-born academic recalled how his daughter and son-in-law were killed by gunmen from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
They managed to save their teenage son by flinging their bodies over him.
The family were together in a secure room inside their home when in was penetrated by Hamas fighters.
The young boy, Troen’s grandson, was shot in the abdomen and is in hospital.
Cincinnati native and Israel resident Hannah Katsman said on Facebook that her son Hayim Katsman was killed at his kibbutz near the border with Gaza.
Mr Katsman, an academic who specialized in Israel studies, was a graduate of the University of Washington.
It is unclear if Matias and Katsman are among the nine US citizens whose deaths have been confirmed by the State Department.
Debbie Shahar Troen Mathias and Shlomi Mathias. They were killed while protecting their son in Israel
Professor Ilan Troen had recently retired from his role at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts , and moved to Israel to live. The Boston-born academic recalled how his daughter and son-in-law were killed by gunmen from the Gaza strip on Saturday – and how the pair managed to save their teenage son by flinging their bodies over him
Meanwhile, Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver, 75, was reportedly abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on Saturday, near the border.
Born in Winnipeg, Silver was previously director of the Arab Jewish Center For Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation, which organized projects joining communities in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
In 2014, after the last major war between Israel and Hamas, she helped found Women Wage Peace, which promotes peace between women from all communities.
Around 200,000 US citizens live in Israel, around 2.2 per cent of the total Israeli population, according to 2021 data from the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
That year 4,000 Americans emigrated to Israel, the highest number since 1973, according to the Immigration and Absorption Ministry.
A disproportionate number – around one in ten – move to settlements in the West Bank, compared to 3.2 per cent of all new immigrants.
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