The US State Department announced nine American citizens have been killed in the three days of violence caused after Hamas launched a massive attack on Israel, pushing the Israeli government to call for a total siege of the region, stopping all food, water and supplies from entering the region, the Washington Post reports.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed nine Americans killed throughout the region; it was unclear how many of the US fatalities were in Israel or Gaza. At least two American legislature, Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman of New York and New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker, were both in Israel at the time of the attack, saying they took shelter in stairways during the bombing. Goldman was there with his family to attend a bar mitzvah.