Disrupting Saudi-Israel ties may have motivated Hamas attack, US Secretary of State Blinken says

Disrupting a potential normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia could certainly be part of the motivation for the latest attack on Israel by Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told media on Sunday.

The United States has also taken note of reports of several Americans killed in Israel and Washington is looking to verify the details and figures, Blinken added in his interview on Sunday with CNN.

He added that the US could announce later on Sunday new military support for Israel.

"We're looking at specific additional requests that the Israelis have made. I think you're likely to hear more about that later today," Blinken told CNN.

"President (Joe) Biden's direction was to make sure that we're providing Israel everything it needs in this moment to deal with the attacks from Hamas."

Blinken said details of that US assistance will be made public later, as he labelled the attack on Israel as a "terrorist attack by a terrorist organisation."