Israel on Sunday said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including a young Israeli–American man who became one of the most well-known captives held by Hamas as his parents met with world leaders and pressed for his release.
The military said all six had been killed shortly before they were to be rescued by Israeli forces. Their recovery sparked calls for mass protests against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who many families of hostages and much of the wider Israeli public blame for failing to bring them back alive in a deal with Hamas to end the 10-month-old war.
Negotiations over such a deal have dragged on for months.
The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin said he has been killed in the Gaza Strip. The 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.”
“Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas,” Mr Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. “I am devastated and outraged.”
“He had just turned 23. He planned to travel the world,” Mr Biden said. His parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, “have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” he said.
“They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express,” the president said.
Mr Biden vowed that “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”.
Vice president Kamala Harris said in a statement, “I strongly condemn Hamas’s continued brutality, and so must the entire world”. Ms Harris, the Democratic candidate running to succeed Mr Biden, said she and he would never waver in their commitment to free the Americans and all those held hostage in Gaza.
The Israeli army identified the others as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; who were also taken from the music festival. The sixth, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be’eri.
“According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in a briefing. Hamas and its armed wing did not immediately comment on the accusations.
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. “The entire nation will stand alongside the hostages’ families to protest the cabinet’s ongoing neglect of the hostages,” it said.
Goldberg-Polin was among the hostages seized by militants at a music festival in southern Israel on 7 October.
A video, published on Hamas’s Telegram channel, showed Goldberg-Polin wearing a red shirt and with his left hand missing. The 23-year-old was attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel when Hamas attacked and was injured by a grenade.
The Hamas-issued video in April showing Goldberg-Polin clearly speaking under duress sparked new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.
Witnesses said Goldberg-Polin lost part of an arm when the attackers tossed grenades into a temporary shelter where people had taken refuge, but he tied a tourniquet around it and walked out of the shelter before being bundled into the truck.
Goldberg-Polin’s parents 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 UN. On 21 August they addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention, where the crowd chanted: “Bring them home.”
Family and friends organized the “Bring Hersh Home” campaign on social media, hoping that he will still be able to take a planned backpack trip through southern Asia.
Mr Netanyahu has said military pressure is needed to win their release as ceasefire efforts falter.
Israel said it believed 108 hostages were still held in Gaza and about one-third of them were dead. At least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since 7 Oct, the enclave’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The war was triggered when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
In a separate development, gunmen shot and killed two people and wounded a third when they opened fire on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has been carrying out large-scale military raids in recent days. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service confirmed the casualties.
On Saturday, clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin. Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
Mr Biden, speaking to reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, said he was “still optimistic” about a ceasefire deal to stop the conflict.
“I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement,” he said. “It’s time this war ended.”
Mr Biden added that “people are continuing to meet”.
Additional reporting by agencies