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Israel’s military said it has recovered the bodies of six hostages killed by Hamas militants in Gaza – including an Israeli-American captive – dealing fresh heartbreak to relatives who fear time is running out for loved ones seized by the militants more than 10 months ago.
Israeli soldiers found the six bodies in tunnels under the enclave, according to the military. The hostages were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, a short while before we reached them,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a briefing Sunday.
The development has sparked protests across Israel, with fresh public anger directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet for failing to secure a hostage deal. Israel’s largest trade union has also called for a nationwide strike starting Monday.
Three of the six whose bodies were recovered had been expected to be released during the first phase of an eventual ceasefire agreement, two Israeli officials have told CNN.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi and Carmel Gat were slated to be released as part of a “humanitarian category,” based on a framework agreed by Israel and Hamas in early July, the officials said.
“Our prime minister delayed it,” one of the Israeli officials said. “It’s way too late for the six who have been killed, but it’s time to reach an agreement.”
The ordeal of California native Goldberg-Polin, who was taken at gunpoint at the Nova music festival on October 7, led to him becoming one of the faces of the?devastating international hostage?crisis that has challenged Netanyahu’s leadership and triggered widespread destruction in Gaza.
The parents of 23-year-old Goldberg-Polin?have been?among the most vocal of the hostage families pushing Netanyahu to seek a deal securing their relatives’ return. Their tireless and high-profile campaigning saw them meet with world leaders, and earlier this month, give an emotional address at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time,” the family said in a statement Sunday.
The Israeli military named the other three victims as Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov and Ori Danino. CNN is reaching out to their families.
In a taped message Sunday, Netanyahu said he had been shocked to the core by what he said was “the terrible cold-blooded murder of six of our hostages.” He also stressed that “those who murder hostages do not want a deal.”
He said Israel would continue to pursue Hamas, and accused it of not wanting to conduct genuine negotiations since December.
“Three months ago, on May 27, Israel agreed to a hostage release deal with the full backing of the United States. Hamas refused. Even after the United States updated the outline of the deal on August 16 – we agreed, and Hamas again refused.”
He added that the Israeli government and he, personally, are “committed to continue working towards a deal that will bring back all our hostages and guarantee our security and existence.”
In response, the Hostages Families Forum, a volunteer-based organization that represents relatives of those held captive, criticized the Prime Minister, calling on him to “stop blaming everyone” and to “take responsibility” for his alleged failures.
“Take responsibility for the thwarting (of a deal). Take responsibility for the neglect. Take responsibility for the hostages who were murdered in captivity,” the Forum demanded in a statement.
The Forum also said Netanyahu had ignored the views of the security establishment in insisting on conditions in the negotiations.
“Hamas is not the only one responsible for the thwarting of the deal. We do not expect the terrorist (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar to want to return the hostages, we expect the Prime Minister of Israel to do everything, everything, everything in order to return the hostages home.”
The Forum has called for demonstrations across Israel, while also announcing a vigil honoring the “hostages murdered in Gaza by Hamas” in Tel Aviv at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET).
US President Joe Biden said the bodies of the hostages were recovered under the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
“I am devastated and outraged,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House that also paid tribute to Goldberg-Polin’s parents.
“They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” Biden said. “They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions.”
‘Anguish and misery’
Goldberg-Polin’s death in particular will reverberate not just in Israel but in US political circles.
His parents Rachel and Jonathan have regularly met top US officials in Washington to press the case of the hostages, and their emotional address to top Democrats at the convention earlier this month inextricably tied the hostages’ fate to US policy over the war in Gaza.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin told CNN in January that she wears a piece of tape marking each day that has passed since her son was kidnapped.
At her convention speech, she described life since October 7 as like living on “another planet.”
“Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that Jon and I and all the hostage families are enduring,” she told delegates.
Some of those discovered dead in the tunnels under Gaza this weekend were, like Goldberg-Polin, captured at the Nova music festival. Lobanov, a 32-year-old father of two, and Yerushalmi, 24, were both tending bar at the gathering, according to the Hostages Families Forum. Danino, 25, and Sarusi, 27, were also at the festival.
Gat, 40, was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri. She had been visiting her parents when Hamas militants stormed the community close to Gaza’s border, killing and taking hostages as they went.
Anger in Israel
News of more hostage deaths piles pressure on Netanyahu as anger inside Israel swells over the failure to strike a ceasefire deal, and as stark disagreements between the prime minister and his military leaders increasingly spill out into the open.
A number of protests sparked across Israel on Sunday, with demonstrators’ anger directed at the government’s handling of the crisis.
Protests have occurred or are ongoing in Tel Aviv, Ra’anana, Rehovot and Be’er Sheva. In several instances, protesters have blocked roads – demanding an immediate agreement to secure the remaining hostages’ release. The banner at one protest read: “Look them in the eyes.”
The chairman of Israel’s General Federation of Labor (Histadrut) Arnon Bar-David has also called for a nationwide general strike to begin on Monday at 6 a.m. local time, after holding a “charged and difficult” meeting with representatives of hostage families in Tel Aviv.
“I will not tolerate the neglect,” Bar-David stated, emphasizing the urgency of the situation of the hostages in Gaza. Histadrut is the country’s biggest labor union.
“We are in a downward spiral, and we don’t stop receiving body bags. Only a strike would shock, and that’s why I’ve decided that starting tomorrow at six in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will shut down,” the labor leader said.
The hostage deaths up the stakes?for?Biden to push?US?ally Israel to find a way out of a devastating war in Gaza that has inflamed global public opinion and repeatedly threatened to spiral into an all-out regional conflict.
“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,” Biden said in his statement on Goldberg-Polin’s death.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said “the heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces” by the news of the six dead.
“On behalf of the State of Israel, I embrace their families with all my heart, and apologize for failing to bring them home safely,” Herzog said in a statement.
“We will continue to fight relentlessly against the criminal, terrorist organization Hamas, which has once again proven there is no end to its willingness to commit murder and crimes against humanity.”
Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group’s October 7 cross-border attacks, in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the health ministry in the enclave.
Anger has been growing inside Israel, led by many hostage families who believe Netanyahu and key far-right cabinet colleagues have been stalling on achieving a ceasefire resolution with Hamas that might bring those captured and killed home.
Netanyahu has been adamant that a deal can only be signed when Israel’s safety is assured.
But domestic pressure is building, with the Hostages Families Forum being among the most critical of the Israeli prime minister.
“The delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages,” the forum said in a statement in English on Sunday.
“We call to Netanyahu: Stop hiding. Provide the public with a justification for this ongoing abandonment,” the forum added.
Biden said Saturday evening that his staff has been in touch with Israeli officials. Biden also called for an end to the war, expressing optimism that an agreement could be reached on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal and adding that parties involved in the negotiation have said they “agree on the principles.”
“It’s time this war ended,” Biden added. “I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement. It’s time to end it. It’s time to finish it.”
The US, Qatar and Egypt, who have acted as mediators, this month renewed a push to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The mediators have proposed a three-phase approach: a first phase involving a six-week ceasefire; a second phase that would release all hostages and a withdrawal of all IDF presence from Gaza; and a third reconstruction phase.
This story has been updated.
CNN’s James Legge, Elliott Gotkine and Tamar Michaelis?contributed to this report.