Blinken heads to Israel to underline US solidarity

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed Wednesday to Israel in a show of solidarity after a bloody attack by Hamas, with Washington closing ranks with its ally that has launched heavy retaliation on the Gaza Strip.

Blinken was set to arrive Thursday for a lightning visit in which he is likely to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed an unrelenting response to what he called the Islamist militants' "savagery."

"The United States has Israel's back. We have their back today, tomorrow -- we will have it every day," Blinken told reporters just before departure. "We're determined to make sure Israel gets everything it needs to defend itself."

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he made another phone call to Netanyahu and he also reiterated "unshakeable" US support.

The State Department, meanwhile, said that the death toll of US citizens in the violence had risen to "at least 22." An unspecified number of American hostages are also believed to be in the hands of Hamas.

In a departure from usual US calls for restraint when violence erupts overseas, Biden and his administration have made clear they support Israel's right to an overwhelming response.

A visibly emotional Biden used a speech Tuesday to condemn the Hamas attack, which included killings of children, music festival revelers and other civilians, and has triggered a war in which the death toll is steadily rising on both sides.

"There are moments in this life -- I mean this literally -- when a pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world," said Biden.

The White House announced Wednesday that the US Navy is ready to send a second aircraft carrier to the region -- in addition to one already dispatched -- "if needed."

US officials, however, have said that they see the fight being against Hamas, not the Palestinian people, and they welcomed a European Union about-face on cutting off development aid for the Palestinians.

Israel has announced that it is shutting down food, electricity and water for the Gaza Strip, the densely populated and impoverished territory governed by Hamas and under an Israeli blockade since 2007.

The White House said it was "actively working" with Israel and neighboring Egypt on providing civilians safe passage out of Gaza.

Blinken will head from Israel to Jordan, a close US partner which has a peace treaty with Israel and historically has been concerned over shake-ups in the Palestinian territories.

- Turning page with Netanyahu -

Further complicating the policy options for both the United States and Israel is that Hamas has taken large numbers of hostages and is threatening to kill them.

In its latest count, the White House said that 17 Americans remain missing in Israel.

Biden has previously criticized Netanyahu over his hard-right government's overhaul of the judiciary and its pursuit of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Those disputes now appear to be sidelined, with Netanyahu on Wednesday reaching a deal for a wartime emergency government with opposition leader Benny Gantz.

Logan Bayroff of J Street, a US liberal pro-Israel group, praised Biden's support for Israel after "one of the most horrific massacres of civilians anywhere in the 21st century."

But he said that Netanyahu has shown "his legacy at this point is one of complete failure" and that the US administration needed a longer-term solution to the Palestinian issue.

The Republican Party has attacked Biden over the violence, especially due to his quiet diplomacy with Iran, which openly supports Hamas.