One day after the Israeli army recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Tel Aviv on Sunday to demand the Israeli government negotiate a deal to bring the remaining hostages home.
The Israel Defense Forces identified the six, all of whom were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, as Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt. Ori Danino.
President Joe Biden said the bodies of the hostages were recovered in a tunnel under Rafah.
“I am devastated and outraged,” Biden said in the statement.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said Hamas killed the six shortly before Israeli forces reached them. Their bodies were found less than a mile from a tunnel where hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi was rescued this week, he said. A spokesperson for Israel’s Health Ministry said the six were killed sometime Thursday or Friday.
"Since Farhan’s identification, the forces have been instructed to act with extra caution, even more so than usual, understanding that there might be additional hostages in the area," he said. "We did not have information on the exact location of the hostages."
Hagari extended his condolences to the families of the hostages.
"It is impossible to put into words what the hostages have endured in Hamas captivity since October 7th, now 331 days, and what their families have been going through," he said. "This morning, this news shakes us all."
Hostages were taken from festival and homes
Goldberg-Polin, 23, who was among those taken during the attack on the Supernova music festival in the Israeli desert, lost his arm in a grenade blast.
“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,” a family representative said.
His parents have been visible and outspoken advocates for bringing the hostages home,including having made animpassioned pleafor his release at the Democratic National Convention
“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," Biden 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."
Gat, 40, was kidnapped from her parents' home in kibbutz Be'eri. She was an occupational therapist from Tel Aviv, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. The group said returned hostages described her as "their guardian angel" who taught them meditation and yoga in captivity.
"She loved solo travel, meeting new people, live rock music concerts, and was particularly fond of Radiohead," the forum said.
Yerushalmi, 24, of Tel Aviv, was working as a bartender at the Nova music festival, according to the forum. She loved her family, Pilates, animals and dancing, according to a video posted to an Instagram account dedicated to advocating for her return home.
Lobanov, 33, and Sarusi, 27, were also kidnapped from the music festival, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Lobanov was working as a bar manager at the festival. His wife gave birth to their second child while he was being held captive, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. He was from Ashkelon.
Sarusi, from Ra'anana, was a "bright, humorous person, who is friendly towards all," a post from the X account Bring Them Home Now said. He was at the music festival with his girlfriend of five years, who was killed. He "stayed with her, trying to help when she was wounded, and was subsequently captured," according to the forum.
Danino, 25, of Jerusalem, was also kidnapped at the festival, according to the Israeli Embassy to the U.S., which said he "helped others escape before being captured himself." He was the eldest of five siblings and planned to begin studying electrical engineering, according to the forum.
Hamas condemned
Messages of heartbreak and outrage from Biden administration officials and politicians began pouring in late Saturday after Goldberg-Polin's death was announced.
Vice President Kamala Harris mourned Goldberg-Polin’s death, saying in a statement that her prayers are with his parents and “everyone who knew and loved Hersh.”
She strongly condemned Hamas, calling it "an evil terrorist organization" that now has "even more American blood on its hands."
"The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel—and American citizens in Israel—must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza," she said in the statement in her official capacity as vice president, not as a presidential candidate.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, invoking a phrase Jews use to mourn the dead, said, “Our hearts break for Jon, Rachel, and their entire family, as well as the other families who found out today their loved ones won’t be coming home. May their memory be a blessing.”
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, along with the families of other hostages, have relentlessly urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government, as well as the international community, to focus on the plight of their loved ones.
In July, Goldberg-Polin’s parents joined the families of other American hostages during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington to share their message: Bring the hostages home now.
At the Democratic National Convention, his parents again pleaded for his return.
“Since then, we live on another planet,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said about her son’s abduction. “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.”
Pressure on Netanyahu
Netanyahu faces mounting pressure in Israel and around the world to reach acease-fire dealwith Hamas that would secure the release of the hostages and end fighting in Gaza.
In a statement on X Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Netanyahu had "abandoned the abductees! This is now a fact."
"Starting tomorrow the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. We are blocking the country," the statement said.
On Sunday, the protesters — 300,000 of them, according to the forum — called for the Israeli government negotiate a deal to bring the remaining hostages home. NBC News was unable to verify that number.
Around 100 hostages remain in Hamas custody.
Family members of some of the hostages spoke at the protest, making critical statements about the Israeli government and specifically Netanyahu.
One speaker, the brother of German Israeli citizen Ohad Ben Ami, talked about the hope he had for a deal before he heard about the six killed hostages. After hearing the news, he said he is now “broken.”
“Let every citizen in Israel know that if they’re kidnapped in their underwear, the prime minister will abandon them to die, without the values we grew up on, without human dignity, without regard for human life,” Kobi Ben Ami said.
Aviva Siegel, 63, who was rescued in a prisoner swap last year, told NBC News that news of the hostages' deaths made her "just so sad. I was broken up into pieces. I could not stop crying and shaking. ... It just seems the cruelest thing that could happen.”
Her husband, Keith Siegel, 65, an American like Goldberg-Polin, remains in captivity. She spoke about how she had been looking forward to meeting Goldberg-Polin after spending so much time with his family.
“It should not have happened,” Siegel said of the hostage deaths.
She said she is keeping hope that her husband is strong and will make it out alive because, “if I don’t, I won’t be able to survive.”
His daughter, Elan Tiv, 33, said she wishes her father could see all of the people coming out to demand the hostages be brought home.
“I want to ask the Biden Administration to see that Netanyahu is not doing his job. Netanyahu is killing my dad. Netanyahu is killing the hostages,” she said. She is asking Biden to “use his good power to be a leader.”
She called on Netanyahu to “let someone else do the most important mission and bring the hostages home and get this war to a finish.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid blamed the government for not securing a hostage deal "even though the circ*mstances allowed it."
Lapid primarily blamed Hamas for the deaths of the six hostages, but said "Hamas is not responsible for our children. The Israeli government is and they should have done the hostage deal," which he said was "doable" and "should have happened a month ago."
Netanyahu said Sunday he was "shocked to the depths of my soul by the terrible cold-blooded murder of six of our abductees" and mourned their deaths.
“I say to the Hamas terrorists who murdered our abductees and I say to their leaders — your blood is on your head. We will not rest and we will not be silent. We will pursue you, we will catch up with you and we will bring you to account.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of refusing to conduct cease-fire negotiations. Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of obstructing a deal.
Earlier Saturday, Biden said: “We should end this war. I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement. And it’s just time to end it. It’s time to finish it.”
Over 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 250 others were taken hostage during Hamas' terrorist attack on Oct. 7.
The devastation and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where health officials said more than 40,000 people have been killed in Israel's military offensive, has drawn international condemnation and isolated Netanyahu on the international stage.
In the 10 months since the attack, some hostages were released through diplomatic agreements, some were rescued in IDF operations, and some were killed or died in captivity. The plight of the hostages has roiled Israeli society, sparking protests and anger that Netanyahu has not reached a cease-fire agreement that would bring them home.
