Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin among 6 hostages found dead in Gaza

President Biden and the Israeli military announced late Saturday that the bodies of six Hamas-held hostages were recovered by Israeli forces in a tunnel under the Gaza city of Rafah, including that of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.  

“I am devastated and outraged,” Mr. Biden said. “Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel on October 7. He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’ savage massacre.”

Israel Defense Forces in a statement identified the other recovered hostages as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino. The military said all six had been killed shortly before the arrival of Israeli forces.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would hold Hamas accountable for killing the hostages in “cold blood,” and blamed the militant group for the stalled negotiations, saying “whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.”

Goldberg-Polin’s family issued a statement early Sunday, hours after the Israeli army said it had located bodies in Gaza.

“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” it said. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”

Goldberg-Polin was one of the best-known hostages as his parents had met with world leaders and pressed relentlessly for their help. Earlier this month, they addressed the Democratic National Convention, where the crowd chanted “bring them home.”

In April, Hamas released a video of an injured man missing his left hand who identified himself as Goldberg-Polin, delivering a long statement that had been clearly crafted by Hamas. The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the Oct. 7 attack.

“We are feeling extreme desperation, despair,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin, his mother, told “Face the Nation” in early April. “And we’ve had wonderful access and sympathy, and open doors and lots of hugs from everyone in the U.S. government. But this is a very binary situation.”  

Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped by Hamas at the Nova music festival he was attending when the militant group conducted its Oct. 7 terrorist attack. 

A graphic video released in June showed Goldberg-Polin and two other hostages being kidnapped by the Palestinian militants.

Families of hostages demand their return

Israel’s announcement is bound to bring urgent new calls for Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring home the remaining hostages. The Israeli leader has taken a tough line in negotiations and repeatedly said that military pressure is needed to bring home the hostages. According to Israeli media, he has feuded with top security officials who have said a deal should be reached urgently.

Three of the hostages — Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat — had been slated to be released in the first phase of a cease-fire proposal discussed in July, an Israeli official confirmed to the Associated Press. The official was not authorized to brief the media about the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to back in July.

“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible,” said Mr. Biden, who had met with Goldberg-Polin’s parents, in his statement. “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

Asked about the case earlier on Saturday, Mr. Biden said bodies were still being identified and that families were being notified. But he called for an end to the war and said cease-fire efforts were progressing.

“I think we’re on (the) verge of having an agreement,” he said as he left church in Delaware. “It’s just time to end. It’s time to finish it.”

A forum of hostage families called for a massive protest on Sunday, demanding a “complete halt of the country” to push for the implementation of a cease-fire and hostage release.

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

High-profile campaign for their son

Goldberg-Polin’s parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage. They met with Mr. Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the United Nations, urging the release of all hostages.

“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” Jon Polin, told the DNC on Aug. 21. His mother, Rachel, who bowed her head during the ovation and touched her chest, said, “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”

Both wore stickers with the number 320, representing the number of days their son had been held. It had long become part of a morning ritual — tear a new piece of tape, write down another day.

She asked other people around the world to take up the ritual, too, not only for her son, who moved to Israel with his family when he was 7, but for the other hostages and their families.

She and her husband sought to keep their son and the others held from being reduced to numbers, describing Hersh as a music and soccer lover and traveler with plans to attend university since his military service had ended. At events she often addressed her son directly in the hope he could hear her, urging him to live another day.

Some 250 hostages were taken on Oct. 7. Before the military announced the latest discovery of bodies, Israel said it believed 108 hostages were still held in Gaza and about one-third of them were dead. Earlier this month, the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages in southern Gaza.

Eight hostages have been rescued by Israeli forces, the most recent found on Tuesday. Most of the rest were freed during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Two previous Israeli operations to free hostages killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.