Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed sorrow over the deaths of six hostages, saying the killings prove that Hamas does not want a cease-fire deal.

Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday (September 1, 2024) that he was heartbroken to hear the news of the hostages’ deaths.

He accused Hamas of killing them in “cold blood” and said Israel would hold the group accountable. He also accused the group of scuttling ongoing cease-fire efforts.

“Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal,” he said.

Critics in Israel have accused Mr. Netanyahu of dragging his feet in cease-fire talks — a charge he denies.

Israel on Sunday (September 1, 2024) 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, including at the Democratic convention last month.

The military said all six had been killed shortly before the arrival of Israeli forces trying to rescue them. Their recovery sparked calls for mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom 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 army identified the other hostages 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.

It said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, around a kilometer (0.6 mile) from where another hostage, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued alive last week.

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and says military pressure is needed to bring home the hostages. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that he got into a shouting match at a security cabinet meeting late Thursday with his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who accused him of prioritizing control over a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border — a major sticking point in the talks — over the lives of the hostages.

The Cabinet reportedly voted in favor of remaining in the corridor over the objections of Mr. Gallant, who said it would prevent a hostage deal.

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“In the name of the state of Israel, I hold their families close to my heart and ask forgiveness,” Mr. Gallant said Sunday (September 1, 2024) after the hostage remains were recovered. He later called for the Cabinet to reverse its decision. There was no immediate comment from Mr. Netanyahu.

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.

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Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, attacking army bases and several farming communities.

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

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, including at the Democratic convention last month.

The news sparked calls for mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who many of the families of hostages and much of the wider public blame for failing to bring them back alive in a cease-fire deal with Hamas. Negotiations over such a deal have dragged on for months.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was seized by militants at a music festival in southern Israel on October 7. The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack.

In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him, his left hand missing and clearly speaking under duress, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.

The army said he was among six hostages who were killed when Israeli forces were about to rescue them. The bodies were recovered from a tunnel under the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

It 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 preliminary information, they were cruelly murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, told reporters.

Mr. Netanyahu 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.

A forum of hostage families called for a massive protest on Sunday (September 1, 2024), 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.

President Joe Biden, who had met with the 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 keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.” The Goldberg-Polin 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.” Biden said Hersh’s parents “have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable.”

“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.” 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 Biden, Pope Francis, and others and addressed the United Nations, urging the release of all hostages.

On August 21, his parents addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention — after sustained applause and chants of “bring him home.” “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,” said his father, Jon Polin. 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.

“I find it so remarkable how nauseating it is every single time,’‘ Rachel Goldberg-Polin told The Associated Press in January, ahead of the 100-day-mark. “And it’s good. I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want anybody to get used to the fact that these people are missing.’‘ 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 traveller 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 October 7. Before the military’s announcement of the latest discovery of bodies, Israel said it believed 108 hostages were still held in Gaza and about one-third of them were dead. In late August, 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.