President Biden tonight making it crystal clear the United States stands with Israel the president making remarks four days after an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Gaza which he called an act of sheer evil adding Israel had a right to respond a response that's killed more than 830 people in Gaza since the conflict broke out on Saturday according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health the death toll in Israel at more than a thousand according to officials there the White House is also confirming at least 14 American citizens are among the dead and another 20 or more Americans remain missing some are among the more than a hundred hostages being held by Hamas including civilians entire families and young children Israel's retaliation for the initial Bloodshed has been Swift pounding Gaza with deadly air strikes the military threatening a Complete Siege of the densely populated strip displacing more than a 100,000 people and sending Mass groups of injured Palestinians to overwhelmed hospitals here at home emotions are running high as New Jersey residents with families in Israel and Gaza wait for word on whether their loved ones are safe senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports as Rockets roared into Israel people ran for cover Hamas terrorists invaded kibitz as going house to house shock waves immediately rocked friends and family back in New Jersey where Union County resident Tamara Chef's friend now sent her frantic text messages she read I'm not okay I'm not okay I cannot stop crying I'm not okay I'm all by myself so immediately you take up you take the phone she's N9 month pregnant RF who works with the Jewish Federation of Greater Metro West tried to calm her friend but later heard now's husband had been shot in the stomach both are hospitalized as for rf's brother SCH he's a reservist in Israel I got a message um last night in my family group uh from Israel my brother was drafted he's one of thousands called up to join Israeli Defense Forces that's hitting home here too and we were talking probably about I want to say probably at least a hundred North Jersey residents that are right now in the Israeli Army and with a mass call up and right now the numbers are 360,000 people called up tenet councilman Mark Schwarz called from the airport in Frankfurt Germany he's one of the lucky few who've managed to get flights home the Hamas attack caught many New Jersey families visiting Israel over religious holidays off guard now that most Airlines have canceled service to and from Israel getting home to Jersey won't be easy we are expecting clean loads of people that will not be able to get out via United and Via Delta and we're going to have to get rebooked you know my my my big concern is making sure my family gets out of this country safe and is not uh entangled and get caught up in in the War uh in any wit R sh form TX Deputy Mayor Ellie cat says his family has tickets to Dubai as many flee the war any way they can Lakewood Rabbi mosha Weissberg is currently staying near Jerusalem and describes a tense emotional atmosphere he's already witnessed many burials it's an extremely extremely dad I mean my wife is actually staring now we probably passed by it an hour ago and and just the after effects of of seeing you know one after the other Weissberg called the Hamas attack Israel's version of 9/11 and says it will only lead to more suffering but it's clear that both Israelis and Palestinians will continue to die in this conflict pro-israel supporters in Short Hills and across New Jersey rallied promising us support as did President President Biden Israel's prime ministers vowed Vengeance and retaliated by shelling Gaza and blocking all vital supplies into a territory where over half the population lives beneath the poverty line Paya County resident NAA alsadi says her sister and niece live in Gaza they are destroyed emotionally and physically they cannot sleep uh they cannot they don't have food they don't have water uh it looks like they may even lose the shelter that they have uh no medicine is allowed to get in or out of Gaza she says families keep moving from house to house warned that more Rockets are incoming from Israel at rallies like this one in Patterson Palestinians demanded to be heard free free palestin free free palese the Palestinian American Community Center called for an end to Decades of Israeli occupation we do not condone blood we don't condone the killing of any civilians but this is a boiling point and this is an opportunity for our leaders for the International Community to correct what is wrong 75 years of occupation is too long in order for us to see peace we must first see justice but in order for us to see Justice we must first see an end to the occup of Palestine but right now there's no end in sight I'm Brenda Flanigan and NJ Spotlight News [Music] [Music]