Amid ongoing tensions, the United States remains deeply concerned about the potential of American citizens being held hostage by Hamas.

While the Biden administration has yet to confirm specifics of any such incidents, the situation is being monitored closely.

“While we are still working to confirm, we believe it is likely that American citizens may be among those being held by Hamas,” Joe Biden said in a White House press release.

In a recent interview with CNN, John Kirby, the National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator, emphasized the administration’s stance on the matter.

“You can’t take a threat like that lightly. You’ve got to take it seriously, because of the barbarity that Hamas has already shown that they’re capable of,” he stated.

The seriousness of the situation has led the U.S. to offer Israel additional support, with Kirby noting that the U.S. has approached Israel about providing “additional intelligence information as well as hostage recovery expertise.”

While the exact details surrounding the potential hostages remain murky, the Biden admin is committed to resolving the issue.

“We don’t know if there are Americans in this population, we don’t know where they are, we don’t know how they’re being held, and it’s an active warzone – so that complicates the options. But clearly, we’re going to do everything we can to help with this hostage crisis, with or without Americans being in the population,” Kirby declared.

When questioned about the U.S.’s guidance to Israel in response to the situation, Kirby chose not to provide specifics.

However, he highlighted the shared values between the two nations.

“We don’t want to see any innocent civilians killed anywhere in the world, and that certainly includes in Gaza and in Israel,” he said.

“But we also know that as a vibrant democracy, Israel shares many of our values and interests and certainly. one of those values is that respect for life, and we’re always better together when we are observing that respect for life and for the laws of war as well.”

In relation to suspicions about Iran’s involvement in the current hostilities, Kirby clarified that the U.S. doesn’t possess “direct evidence” pointing to Iranian complicity in planning or sourcing these attacks.