Six Israeli hostages found dead in Gaza, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin; Netanyahu responds to killing

Jerusalem — Israel said on Sunday it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza, including a young Israeli-American who has become one of the most high-profile prisoners held by Hamas, as his parents met with world leaders and pressed for his release.

The army said all six were killed shortly before Israeli forces arrived. Their recovery has sparked calls for mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who many Israelis accuse of failing to bring them back to life in a deal with Hamas to end the 10-month war. Negotiations for such a deal have been going on for months.

Netanyahu said Israel would hold Hamas accountable for killing hostages in “cold blood” and blamed the militant group for stalled negotiations, saying “whoever kills hostages does not want a deal.”

Militants captured Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, and four other hostages at a music festival in southern Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.

The Berkeley, Calif., native lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. His parents are originally from the Chicago area.

In April, a video released by Hamas showed him alive but with his left hand missing, sparking fresh protests in Israel, urging the government to do more to secure the release of the hostages.

The military identified the other dead hostages as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; which were also taken from the music festival. The sixth, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be’eri.

The bodies are said to have been recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, about a kilometer (half a mile) from where another hostage, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued in life last week.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said the army believed there were hostages in the area but did not have specific information. He said Israeli forces found the bodies several tens of meters (yards) underground while “ongoing fighting” was underway, but that there was no fire in the tunnel.

He said there was no doubt that Hamas killed them.

Hamas offered to release the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-ranking militants.

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a US-backed ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to support in July.

Families of hostages demand ‘complete shutdown of country’

Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and says military pressure is needed to bring the hostages home.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that he got into a shouting match at a security cabinet meeting Thursday night with his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who accused him of prioritizing control of a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border – a major point of conflict in the discussions. – over the lives of the hostages. The Cabinet reportedly voted to stay in the corridor over the objections of Gallant, who said it would prevent a hostage deal.

An Israeli official confirmed the report and said three of the hostages – Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat – were scheduled to be released in the first phase of a proposed ceasefire discussed in July. The official was not authorized to brief the media on the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“On behalf of the state of Israel, I hold their families close to my heart and ask for forgiveness,” Gallant said Sunday after the remains were recovered. He later asked the Cabinet to reverse its decision.

A forum of hostage families called for a massive protest on Sunday, calling for a “complete shutdown of the country” to push for the implementation of the ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

“A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. If it weren’t for the delays, sabotage and apologies, those whose deaths we learned of this morning would likely still be alive,” it said in a statement. .

US President Joe Biden, who met Goldberg-Polin’s parents, said he was “devastated and outraged”.

“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible,” he said. “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will continue to work around the clock for an agreement to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said her prayers were with the Goldberg-Polin family and condemned Hamas.

A high-profile campaign

Goldberg-Polin’s parents, US-born immigrants to Israel, have become perhaps the best-known hostage relatives on the international stage. They met with Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the United Nations, demanding the release of all the hostages.

On Aug. 21, his parents addressed a quiet room at the Democratic National Convention — to loud applause and chants of “bring him home.”

“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all the precious hostages — back home is not a political issue. It’s a humanitarian issue,” said his father, Jon Polin. His mother, Rachel, who bowed her head during the standing ovation and touched his chest, said “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”

She and her husband sought to prevent their son and others from being outnumbered, describing Hersh as a music and football lover and traveler with plans to attend university after his military service ends .

About 250 hostages were taken on October 7. Israel now believes 101 remain in captivity, including 35 who are believed to be dead. More than 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians jailed by Israel. Eight were rescued by Israeli forces.

Two previous Israeli operations to free the hostages killed dozens of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops accidentally killed three Israelis who escaped from captivity in December.

Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they swept into southern Israel on October 7, attacking army bases and several farming communities.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who would not say how many were fighters. It displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.

In a separate development on Sunday, Palestinian militants killed three Israeli police officers when they opened fire on their vehicle in the West Bank, according to Israeli officials. Israel has carried out large-scale military raids in the occupied territory in recent days.

Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.