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Family members of four American citizens believed to be held hostage by Hamas have said President Joe Biden's administration has a duty to ensure their safety.
More than 100 people are reported to have been kidnapped in the war, and Mr Biden confirmed on Tuesday that Americans are among those being held captive. At least 14 Americans have been killed.
Family members of missing US citizens held a media briefing in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, calling on the Biden administration to bring their loved ones home.
“They're responsible to bring the US citizens back home safe and sound,” said US-Israeli citizen Nahar Neta, whose mother Adrienne Neta is among the missing.
“We expect nothing less from the US administration, from President Biden and Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken.
The hostages Hamas are thought to be holding in Gaza include Israeli military personnel, women, children, elderly people and other civilians, family members said.
The Israeli embassy in the US said more than 1,000 people in Israel have been killed. The death toll in Gaza rose to 830 on Tuesday. Thousands more on both sides have been injured.
At times struggling to hold back tears, Mr Neta recalled how he and his siblings were on the phone with their mother, 66, when Hamas stormed into her home on Saturday morning.
“That was our last contact with her,” he said.
“It is our hope, which is a bit ridiculous at this stage, to say that the optimistic scenario here is that she's held hostage in Gaza and not dead on the streets.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was celebrating the end of his military service at an Israeli music festival at Kibbutz Re'im, near the Gaza border, when Hamas attacked.
Mr Goldberg-Polin's mother, Rachel Goldberg, said she received two text messages from her son at 8.11am on Saturday.
“I took it to mean 'I love you' and 'I'm sorry because whatever is going to happen is going to cause you a tremendous pain and worry',” she said.
Mr Goldberg-Polin was forced into a bomb shelter when Hamas began throwing grenades and shooting at those attending the festival.
His father said he received information from witnesses that his son and friend were throwing back grenades as they were being lobbed into the shelter.
“He is a smiley, fun-loving guy,” Mr Polin said of his son.
“You mention his name and people just smile because he's the kind of guy who's just fun to be around and makes people feel good and have a good time.”
His last known mobile phone signal was on the border with Gaza.
Mr Goldberg-Polin was born in Berkeley, California, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 2008.
Before that, his family had lived in Richmond, Virginia, where they were part of the Keneseth Beth Israel congregation in Richmond.
“His parents had a wonderful reputation and they have a lot of close friends here,” Dovid Asher, the synagogue's rabbi, told The National.
The attack, the worst Israel has faced in five decades, has been referred to as Israel's 9/11.
Keneseth Beth Israel held a rally for Mr Goldberg-Polin on Monday and planned on attending a prayer vigil at the synagogue on Tuesday night.
“People are really upset. Very, very upset,” Mr Asher said.
Referring to the Holocaust during the Second World War, he said: “Nobody's ever dealt with this since our grandparents times.”
Jonathan Dekel-Chen is a resident of the Kibbutz Nir Oz. The community once had 400 people but has been reduced to 160 confirmed survivors after Hamas attacked it.
Mr Dekel-Chen, who was born in Connecticut, said his son Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, remains missing.
“He's an arm's length away in Gaza, evidently, but couldn't be farther from me and our family right now,” he said.
“I grew up in Connecticut … but I've never felt farther away from there either.”
Mr Dekel-Chen called on Congress and the Biden administration to “do what they can on the side of good”.
“It seems to me that the United States my original home and still a very beloved place for me, and always wants to be and must be on the side of good,” he said.
Mr Biden said he has directed his administration to work with Israeli officials to try to recover the hostages.
“As President, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” he said at the White House.
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A Palestinian girl holds two children as she stands on a street in Gaza city as Israel continues to launch air strikes. AFP -
Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes on Gaza city. AFP -
A Palestinian girl following an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis. Reuters -
Palestinians survey the rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters -
A Palestinian woman, covered in dust, carries a child in Gaza city. AFP -
A Palestinian man with a child outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city. AFP -
Israeli soldiers walk through Kibbutz Be'eri. Days earlier Hamas militants killed more than a hundred civilians near the border with Gaza. Getty Images -
A wounded Palestinian man Ala Al-Kafarneh, who survived Israeli strikes, attends a hospital in Gaza city. Mr Al-Kafarneh lost his pregnant wife and several members of his family in air strikes after they fled Beit Hanoun. Reuters -
Supermarket shelves containing dry goods are left depleted in Tel Aviv. Getty Images -
An injured Palestinian man arrives at Al-Shefa hospital in Gaza city. EPA -
A boot lies on the ground outside a damaged house in Be'eri, Israel. EPA -
An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer near the border with Gaza in southern Israel. AFP -
Palestinian mourners during the funerals of Al-Agha family members killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters -
Family and friends of May Naim, 24, who was killed by Palestinians militants at a party near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, during her funeral in Gan Haim, Israel. Getty Images -
Palestinian children in Khan Younis fill bottles with water from public taps during the conflict with Israel. Reuters -
Men outside a morgue in Khan Yunis console a woman mourning loved ones killed in an Israeli air strike. AFP -
A Palestinian girl injured in Israeli strikes is taken to hospital in Gaza City. Reuters -
An Israeli woman is evacuated by paramedics following a rocket attack launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, in Sderot. Reuters -
A man looks at the destruction in the ravaged Jabalia refugee camp, following overnight Israeli air strikes. AFP -
The daughter of Zakaria Abu Maamar, a member of Hamas's political office, at her father's funeral, after he was killed in an air strike in Khan Younis. Reuters -
A collapsed building after an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. AFP -
Firefighters attend a burning building after an Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. AFP -
Women and children in Gaza City. AFP -
An Israeli army soldier passes a Merkava battle tank in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. AFP -
An Israeli strike on the port of Gaza City. AFP -
Demonstrators outside the West Los Angeles Federal Building in California during a rally in support of Israel. AFP -
Mourners at the funeral of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli shelling in Khan Younis in Gaza. AFP -
Israeli journalists take cover during a rocket attack from Gaza in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Aza near the border. AFP -
Palestinians rescue a young girl from the rubble of a destroyed residential building following an Israeli air strike. AP -
Mourners at the graveside of Eden Guez, who was killed as she attended a festival that was attacked by Hamas gunmen from Gaza. Reuters -
An Israeli fireman recovers after extinguishing cars set on fire by a rocket fired from Gaza. AP -
Smoke billows from a boat after a strike by Israel on the port of Gaza City. AFP -
Destroyed residential buildings in Gaza City. AP -
Rockets from Gaza launched towards Israel. Reuters -
A Palestinian woman sits among the rubble in the destroyed Al-Ramal neighborhood following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. EPA -
Israeli soldiers in armoured vehicles near the northern town of Kiryat Shmona close to the border with Lebanon. AFP -
Buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza city. Reuters -
Nicole Izsak, right, confronts a Palestinian supporter near the Israeli consulate in New York, claiming her cousin is being held hostage in Gaza. AFP -
The abandoned site of the Supernova music festival, besieged by Hamas militants in southern Israel. AFP -
An attack on the site by Hamas gunmen from Gaza left at least 260 people dead. Reuters -
A man carries a blood-stained flak jacket belonging to a Palestinian journalist, who was killed with two colleagues when an Israeli missile hit a hospital building while they were outside reporting, in Gaza city. Reuters -
An Israeli soldier holds a rescued dog as he takes position near a bomb shelter in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel. Reuters -
Protesters chant and wave the Palestinian flag at a rally in Melbourne, Australia. Getty Images -
Israeli border police walk past a burnt-out car as rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Reuters -
Palestinians amid the rubble following Israeli air strikes that razed a neighbourhood in Gaza city. AP -
Palestinians carry a wounded man at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. EPA -
Palestinians inspect damage in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Reuters
Also among the missing is Italy Chen, a US-Israeli soldier who was on duty during the Saturday assault.
His father, Ruby Chen, said that the Israeli military has designated him as “missing in action”.
Mr Chen said family members have had contact with the State Department on an individual basis, but not as a group.
Speaking of his New York roots, he appealed to the White House to “not take a back seat”.
“We do this on behalf of my family … The US has a lot of resources and sometimes you are able to do many things different than what the Israeli government can do,” Mr Chen said.
