TEL AVIV — Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of six more hostages from Gaza, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the Israel Defense Forces announced early Sunday.
The remains of Goldberg-Polin, 23 — whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month, asking for global prayers for his release — were found on Saturday alongside the bodies of Carmel Gat, 40; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Alexander Lobanov, 32; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Ori Danino, 25.
According to the IDF, the hostages were killed by their Hamas captors “shortly before” their remains were discovered. The bodies were retrieved from a tunnel several dozen feet deep in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, approximately half a mile from where the IDF rescued a living hostage, Bedouin Israeli Farhan al-Qadi, last week.
In response, Hamas blamed Israeli bombings for the deaths, stating, “If President [Joe] Biden is concerned about their lives, he must stop supporting this enemy with money and weapons and pressure the occupation to end its aggression immediately.”
On Sunday, hostage families — who have long accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival and military victory over securing a deal to bring their loved ones home — demanded that he address the nation.
Hours later, Netanyahu’s office released a prerecorded video statement in which he took no questions from the public. “The fact that Hamas continues to commit atrocities like the ones on the seventh of October obliges us to do everything so that it cannot commit these atrocities again,” he said.
Netanyahu added that since December, Hamas has refused “to conduct real negotiations.”
“Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal,” he said.
For 11 months, the six hostages, abducted during a music festival and from a nearby kibbutz in southern Israel, had been classified as alive by the IDF, which had a general idea of their location. At least four of them, including Goldberg-Polin, were believed to be on a list of hostages who would be released if ongoing U.S.-brokered negotiations resulted in a cease-fire.
In a statement, President Biden expressed his deep sorrow, saying that after months of working closely with Goldberg-Polin’s parents and other Israeli American families, he was “devastated and outraged” by the news of his death.
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Biden said. “And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also condemned Hamas’s brutality, calling Goldberg-Polin’s death a “terrible loss.”
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The six were among over 250 hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas attack that left 1,200 people dead in Israel, according to Israeli estimates. During a one-week pause in fighting in late November, 105 hostages were released, and only eight have been rescued alive by the IDF. Nearly 100 remain in captivity, with dozens believed to be alive.
For months, families of the hostages have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding that Netanyahu agree to a cease-fire that would secure the release of their loved ones. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, has repeatedly stated that only a negotiated deal could bring most of them back.
On Sunday, dozens of restaurants, theaters, businesses, and municipalities announced closures in solidarity with the protests, and the national workers union declared an open-ended general strike starting Monday.
“We can no longer stand by while our children suffer and are murdered in the tunnels of Gaza,” said Arnon Bar-David, head of the Histadrut labor union, in a statement on Sunday after meeting with hostage families. “This is unacceptable, and it must stop.”
Aviva Siegel, a former Israeli hostage whose husband Keith, a dual American-Israeli citizen, is still held by Hamas in Gaza, said that while she has lost faith in the Israeli government, she hopes that the tragic news of the hostage deaths will motivate negotiators to reach a deal.
“I remember being there and feeling death looming above me constantly,” said Siegel, who plans to join the demonstrations. “We need to scream aloud for them to be brought home. I’m not going to lose hope. That would break me into pieces.”
In the latest round of negotiations, Netanyahu insisted on maintaining an Israeli presence along the Philadelphi Corridor, a strategic border between Gaza and Egypt that Israel has repeatedly claimed serves as a Hamas smuggling route. Despite warnings from senior security officials that the decision could jeopardize a potential deal, the Israeli cabinet voted on Thursday to remain in the area.
“I hope you heard and saw us. I hope you saw how your friends fought for you to return home alive,” said Gil Dickman, cousin of Gat, who was abducted from her parents’ home in Kibbutz Beeri and taken to Gaza on October 7. “I hope you didn’t hear the Prime Minister saying that the Philadelphi Corridor was more important than your life and the lives of the other hostages.”
The Hostage Families Forum, representing most of the hostages’ families, issued a statement saying that the six hostages “were taken alive, endured the horrors of captivity, and were then coldly murdered.” The forum added that a deal for their release had been “on the table” for two months and blamed their deaths on “delays, sabotage, and excuses.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed the nation’s grief, stating, “The heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces,” and apologized to the families for failing to bring their loved ones back safely.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized Netanyahu’s government, arguing that the deaths could have been prevented through a deal. “Instead of saving lives, hostages are being buried. Instead of doing everything to bring them home, Netanyahu is doing all he can to stay in power,” he said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was taken hostage from the Nova music festival in Israel, where he was celebrating his 23rd birthday.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” the family said in a statement. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”
At the Democratic National Convention in August, Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, who have been leading advocates for the release of hostages, shared their son’s story and made another appeal to bring all the hostages home.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin recounted how her son’s “left forearm, his dominant arm, was blown off before he was loaded onto a pickup truck and stolen from his life — and from me and Jon — into Gaza.”
“That was 320 days ago,” she said. “Since then, we live on another planet.”
In April, Hersh Goldberg-Polin appeared in a Hamas propaganda video, his left hand and part of his forearm missing, reading from what appeared to be a scripted statement condemning Netanyahu.
The Hostage Families Forum honored all the deceased captives in a statement. Lobanov, a father of two, had a 2-month-old child born while he was in captivity. Gat was an occupational therapist with a passion for solo travel. Danino was preparing to begin his engineering studies.
The forum also described Yerushalmi as a devoted sister who spoke to her family for hours while trying to escape the Hamas attack. Sarusi was at the Nova festival with his girlfriend, who was murdered.
