IDF recover bodies of six Hamas hostages from Gaza underground tunnel after they were kidnapped on October 7 massacre
THE IDF have recovered the bodies of six Hamas hostages from a Gaza terror tunnel after they were kidnapped during the October 7 massacre.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino were brought back to Israel by the military.
All six were abducted by Hamas terrorists when they launched the horror October 7 bloodbath in Israel.
The IDF said their bodies were found in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, where they were killed moments before troops located them on Saturday.
Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: “According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them.”
Israeli officials added it took “many hours” to identify the remains of the four men and two women recovered, Axios reports.
On Sunday, a forum of hostage families called for a major protest, demanding a “complete halt of the country” to pressure the government to adopt a truce and release the hostages.
The group also blamed Prime Minister Netanyahu for the six killings, claiming they were a “direct result of failing to sign a deal”.
“Over the past few months, eight hostages were rescued alive through military operations, compared to 105 hostages released in a deal last November,” said the Hostages Families Forum in a statement.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would not rest until it catches those responsible for the killing of the six hostages.
In a statement, the Israeli PM said that Israel was committed to achieving a deal to release remaining hostages and ensure Israel’s security.
“Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” Netanyahu said.
Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; were all taken from the tragic Supernova 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.
The family of Ms Yerushalmi said: “We share with great sorrow that our beloved Eden was murdered in Hamas captivity.”
Following news of the deaths, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog apologised to the families of the victims for “failing to bring them home safely”.
US-citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, became one of the most well-known captives held by Hamas as his parents met with world leaders and pressed for his release.
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.
Now, as his body has been tragically found, his devastated family said in a statement: “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.”
US President Joe Biden said he is “devastated and outraged” by the news.
He said: “It is as tragic as it is reprehensible. 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.”
Vice president Kamala Harris and secretary of state Antony Blinken also shared their condolences with Mr Goldberg-Polin’s grieving parents.
The 23-year-old’s mum and dad 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.”
She and her husband sought to keep their son and the others held from being reduced to numbers, describing Hersh as a music and football 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.
It comes as a brave survivor of a brutal kidnapping by Hamas has revealed she was kept in chains, tortured, and sexually assaulted for 55 days.
Amit Soussana, 40, was taken hostage during the October 7 bloodbath and chained up for three weeks in a Gaza home.
The brave survivor told The Times of how she battled through weeks of terror where she feared she would die.
After her capture, she was taken to a house where she was guarded by two men and tied up by an iron chain to bars on a window for three weeks.
The Israeli lawyer said she was sexually abused “under the threat of a gun” by one of her captors after she took a shower.
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.
Eight hostages have been rescued by Israeli forces, the most recent found on Tuesday.
More than 100 were freed during a week-long ceasefire 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.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 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.
Who are Hamas?
HAMAS is an Islamist militant group founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian Intifada or uprising against Israel.
The terror organisation is a Palestinian militant movement that also serves as one of the territories’ two major political parties.
Over the years, Hamas has carried out shooting, bombing, and rocket attacks in Israel and the two region’s armies have fought in Gaza in multiple cross-border since the group seized control of Gaza in 2007.
But the group drew worldwide attention when they commited a set of horror attacks on October 7, 2023.
They launched surprise land, air, and sea attacks on Israel, killing over hundreds of Israelis and leaving thousands more injured.
Since then the brutal warfare has continued and thousands have died on both sides of the fighting.
Hamas as a whole, or in some cases its military wing, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the US, the EU, and the UK, as well as other powers.