By Allan Lengel
FBI Director Christopher Wray made an unannounced trip to Israel on Wednesday and met with the country’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the New York Times reports. He later departed for Germany for the Munich Security Conference.
Wray spoke with officials from Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, and the Shin Bet, the equivalent of the FBI. He also spoke with FBI agents working in Israel, the Times reports.
Some American citizens were killed during the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, and some were taken hostage.
“The FBI’s partnership with our Israeli counterparts is longstanding, close and robust,” Wray said in a statement, “and I’m confident the closeness of our agencies contributed to our ability to move so quickly in response to these attacks, and to ensure our support is as seamless as possible.”
The visit comes as tensions remain high in the region and beyond over a war being fought against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Many countries have called for a cease fire. Some groups in Israel have called for a cease fire in exchange for the return of all the Israeli hostages. Conversely, some Israelis have urged the country to continue fighting until Hamas is neutralized.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says that more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including civilian men, women and children. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters. Israel claims it has killed about 10,000 Hamas militants.
About 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Israel charges that some women were gang raped and sexually mutilated, and about 250 people were taken hostage.
