“The Hamas leadership will pay for these crimes. And we will continue to work around the clock to reach an agreement that secures the release of the remaining hostages,” the US president said Saturday evening.
The bodies of six hostages kidnapped during the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7 have been found in the Gaza Strip, including that of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday evening.
The autopsy carried out on the bodies of the hostages on Sunday morning revealed that they had been killed “point blank”the Israeli Health Ministry announced. “The deaths likely occurred approximately 48 to 72 hours before the examination, between Thursday and Friday morning.”ministry spokeswoman Shira Solomon said in a statement.
Joe Biden said he was devastated and outraged in a statement. “Earlier today (Saturday, editor’s note), in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas”including that of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, explained the American president.
The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday that it had identified the bodies of the six hostages, including two women and four men, one Israeli-American and one Israeli-Russian. “The Army and the Shin Bet”Israeli domestic intelligence, “located (on Saturday) and recovered the bodies of hostages Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino from a tunnel in the Rafah area”in the southern Gaza Strip, the army announced in a statement.
64 hostages are still alive in Gaza
Five of them – aged 23 to 32 – were abducted at the Nova techno music festival by Hamas commandos during the deadly attack on October 7. The attack resulted in the deaths of a total of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. Of the 251 people abducted that day, 97 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 declared dead by the army.
Israeli reprisals in Gaza have left at least 40,691 dead, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry, and caused a humanitarian and health disaster in the besieged territory. The majority of the dead are women and minors, according to the UN.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the six hostages whose remains were returned were alive when they were abducted and afterward “killed in cold blood by Hamas”. Evidence of life had emerged for these hostages, including a video showing Hersh Goldberg-Polin in April shot by his captors. A senior member of the Palestinian Hamas told AFP on Sunday that “several” hostages “were alive and were killed by gunfire and bombardments from the occupier” Israeli.
An Israeli army spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, reiterated this morning that he knew “that they had been killed by Hamas terrorists”. “We know, I can tell you, there was no instruction for real-time shooting in the tunnel.”he insisted, asserting that Hamas’ statements that the hostages had been killed by Israeli forces were a lie. “psychological warfare”.
The Palestinian Hamas official also said, on condition of anonymity, that “some” of the six hostages whose remains were found on Saturday by the Israeli army, “were part of the list of hostages to be released that Hamas had approved”Israeli media reports say that Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and two Israelis, Carmel Gat and Eden Yerushalmi, were on a list of hostages to be released during the first phase of a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which has been under negotiation for several months.
Agreement to ‘bring back’ hostages
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are still trying to hammer out a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. So far, no end seems in sight as the war nears its twelfth month. “A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for two months. Without the delays, sabotage and pretexts, those whose deaths we learned about this morning would certainly still be alive.”the Hostages’ Families Forum raged on Sunday.
“It is time to bring our hostages home, to help the living recover and bury the dead with dignity.”the group continued in a statement. The Forum states that Alexander Lobanov became a father while he was captive, to a child who is now five months old. “The heart of the whole nation is broken into a thousand pieces”Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, according to a statement from his office. “We will continue to relentlessly fight the criminal terrorist organization Hamas”added Isaac Herzog.
Hamas leaders ‘will pay’
“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will continue to work around the clock to reach an agreement that secures the release of the remaining hostages.”said Joe Biden. “Hersh was among the innocent people brutally attacked while attending a peace music festival in Israel on October 7. He lost his arm helping friends and strangers in the savage massacre carried out by Hamas.”Biden explained, specifying that he was 23 years old at the time.
Referring to the young man’s parents, Jon and Rachel, who “relentlessly and irrepressibly defended their son and all the hostages held in unacceptable conditions”he confided “admire them and share their grief more deeply than words can express”.
Joe Biden assured that he had “worked tirelessly to ensure their beloved Hersh reached them safely”: “The news of his death breaks my heart”. During the Hamas attack on October 7, 251 people were abducted in Israel and taken to Gaza.
