(NewsNation) — For the loved ones of Americans still unaccounted for since Hamas attacked Israel Oct. 7, the agonizing wait continues. While there’s been some hostages released under a temporary cease-fire agreement, families of those kidnapped want to see more action from the U.S. government.
Eight Americans — most, if not all of them, dual U.S. and Israeli citizens — are believed to be held hostage by Hamas. Many of their families have come to Washington, D.C. this week to call for their release.
Several of the Americans are also soldiers in the Israeli military, like 19-year-old Edan Alexander. Alexander graduated high school in New Jersey in 2022 before going to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
Some of the others include Itay Chen, who is also 19 and in the IDF, as well as Omer Neutra, 22, who was serving as a tank commander and officer near Gaza during Hamas’ incursion, where 1,200 people in Israel were killed. Neutra’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors.
Biden administration officials say they’re working day and night to bring these hostages home. Hostage families in D.C. are meeting with these officials like National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as members of Congress, to ask why more Americans haven’t been released.
Of the less than 10 Americans White House officials say are still unaccounted for, most are adult men, and therefore don’t qualify for release under recent hostage release negotiations, which prioritize women and children.
The White House has said there’s no indication that Hamas is trying to keep American hostages as leverage.
A total of four U.S. citizens have been released since Oct. 7. Two of them, Judith Raanan, 59 and her daughter, Natalie, who’s 17, were released Oct. 20 for what Hamas said were “humanitarian” reasons.
Israeli-American Liat Beinin, 49, and Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old, are the only two Americans to be freed during the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Families of those hostages say the number of releases should be much higher.
“We need more to come, and we need them to come out really soon because when I see those faces, and you all see those faces after 52, 53 days — they can’t stay there much longer,” Liz Hirsh Naftali, Edan’s great aunt, said.
While she acknowledged “some progress” in getting hostages home this week, Orna Nuetra, Omer Nuetra’s mother, noted her son is still not with her.
“The clock continues to tick and not in our favor,” Orna Nuetra said.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel as part of an effort to extend the brief truce reached by Israel and Hamas and allow more aid to get into Gaza, where more than 13,300 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than three-quarters of the population of 2.3 million have been uprooted.
Blinken has said he wants to be assured of the safety for those in Gaza before Israel resumes military operations.
This is Blinken’s third visit to Israel since Oct. 7. After visiting the country and West Bank, he’s on to Dubai for a climate conference.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
