Today began with some hard news from the White House.

The number of Americans confirmed killed

by the Hamas terrorist assault on Israel

this weekend has climbed to at least 22.

And that number may rise.

On top of that tragic news,

the White House announced today

that another 17 Americans remain unaccounted for.

And the White House expects the number

of known American hostages taken by Hamas to climb.

We know that a number of those Americans

are being held hostage right now by Hamas.

I think we all need to steal 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.

Hamas is believed to have taken around 150 hostages

and the group is threatening to execute

those hostages one by one in retaliation

for Israeli airstrikes that hit gossens in their homes.

The scale and the brutality of this crisis

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