Following the recent Hamas attacks on Israel, Georgia U.S. Sen Jon Ossoff, the state's first Jewish U.S. senator, has shared his support for Israel and provided resources for U.S. citizens currently there.
The small, quiet enclaves have long thrived on leftist ideas about collective living. Those located near Gaza suffered some of the worst of the Hamas attacks, with hundreds reported dead.
Israel carried out a fifth day of bombardments across the Gaza Strip as the Palestinian territory lost electricity, following one of the deadliest attacks against Israel in history.
Many Israelis are frantically looking for clues about loved ones believed to be held in Gaza. Ido Dan keeps watching a video that appears to show Hamas militants kidnapping his 12-year-old nephew.
With high poverty and unemployment and severe restrictions on movement, life in the Gaza Strip was already difficult before Israel's retaliatory offensive began this week in response to Hamas attacks.
"Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond — indeed has a duty to respond — to these vicious attacks," Biden said at the White House.
The group, founded in 1987, has vowed to annihilate Israel. Before this past weekend's attack, it was responsible for many suicide bombings and other deadly attacks on civilians and Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said it has largely regained control of areas in the south that had been attacked by militants from Hamas. The announcement came on the fourth day of war with Hamas.
Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Dan Goldman are back in the U.S. after sheltering in place as violence erupted in Israel on Saturday. Flight disruptions have left other U.S. citizens unable to get home.
Most Gazans support resistance against Israel and Hamas and Islamic Jihad still do have a following, though some Gazans are frustrated with the groups. Analysts see a rift forming between them.