American-born soldier from Houston in hospital on breathing tube after being shot in face during attack in Israel as medics desperately try to track down family in US

An American-born soldier from Houston is on a breathing tube in the hospital after being shot in the face during an attack in Israel, according to reports.

Medics and the army are struggling to trace the unnamed soldier’s relatives as he currently has no family nearby, The Times of Israel reported.

The soldier is said to be ‘very traumatised’ by his injuries, which were sustained at an as yet undisclosed location.

He is on a tracheotomy – a breathing tube – and is unable to speak, but has given carers the ‘thumbs up’.

It comes after the US State Department confirmed on Monday that nine Americans were killed in Israel during Hamas’s massive terror attack that began on Saturday morning.

Plumes of smoke rise into the sky of Gaza City on Monday during an Israeli airstrike

Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said on Sunday there was “indication” that Americans had been kidnapped and killed by Hamas terrorists in Israel over the weekend and said his agency was working “overtime” to confirm reports.

Authorities are desperately trying to locate an unknown number of missing US citizens.

More than 700 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday, including 260 killed by Hamas gunmen at a music festival.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said it had “offered consular assistance to the families” of American citizens “who lost their lives as a result of these horrific attacks.”

He told MSNBC that authorities “continue to work” to confirm the number of missing Americans and to locate them.

‘We don’t have solid information on the number where they might be,’ he added. “We will continue to work through it with the government of Israel as they continue to take back towns in southern Israel that have been attacked by Hamas.”

The injured Houston soldier is being kept company at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem by Rhoda Smolow, the president of the women’s Zionist group Hadassah, until his family can be contacted.

“He’s on a tracheotomy, so we couldn’t talk, and apparently, according to the caregivers there, the nurses and the doctors, they felt he was very traumatized,” she said. “We felt so terrible that he was alone in the room without anyone.”

The Zionist Group’s CEO, Naomi Adler, discussed the soldier in a briefing held Sunday by the Jewish Federations of North America and the American Jewish Committee.

It comes after it emerged an American man sent a chilling text message to his parents while attending a desert party in Israel – moments before Hamas terrorists launched a devastating attack.

Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mum and dad ‘I love you, I’m sorry’ at 8.11am on Saturday – as callous Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, took dozens hostage and killed hundreds during the Jewish heyday. holiday.

Hersh Golberg-Polin (23) texted his mother and father ‘I love you’. I’m sorry’ at 8:11 a.m. Saturday – as Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, took dozens hostage and killed hundreds during the Jewish high holiday

Born in Berkeley, California, Hersh and his family moved to Jerusalem when he was just seven years old

Born in Berkeley, California, Hersh and his family moved to Jerusalem when he was just seven years old.

His family have no idea where he is – and they now fear for his life, after he spent the night at the desert rave near the Gaza Strip that was infiltrated and ambushed by Palestinian terrorists.

Meanwhile, Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver (75) was reportedly kidnapped on Saturday, near the border, from Kibbutz Be’eri.

Born in Winnipeg, Silver was previously director of the Arab Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality and Cooperation, which organized projects that connect with communities in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In 2014, after the last major war between Israel and Hamas, she helped found Women Wage Peace, which promotes peace between women from all communities.

About 200,000 American citizens live in Israel, about 2.2 percent of the total Israeli population, according to 2021 data from the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

That year, 4,000 Americans immigrated to Israel, the highest number since 1973, according to the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption.

A disproportionate number – about one in ten – move to settlements in the West Bank, compared to 3.2 percent of all new immigrants.