Israel has announced a heartbreaking discovery, as its forces have recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) located the bodies in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
The hostages were identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sgt Ori Danino. According to IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, the initial assessment is that they were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.”
In response to the tragic news, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring those responsible for the killings to justice. He also expressed the government’s commitment to achieving a deal to release the remaining hostages and ensure the country’s security.
A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, shifted blame to Israel for the deaths, citing the refusal to sign a ceasefire deal. The families of the hostages have demanded accountability from Mr. Netanyahu, accusing him of abandoning the hostages and leading to their tragic fate.
The Israeli public is urged to join protests in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and other locations to call for a hostage exchange deal. The IDF confirmed that the bodies have been returned to Israeli territory, and the families have been notified.
The international community, including US President Joe Biden, has expressed shock and outrage over the deaths. Efforts are underway to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
As the region grapples with this tragedy, a UN-led polio vaccination campaign has been initiated in Gaza to address the recent detection of the virus in wastewater samples. Three “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting have been agreed upon to vaccinate children under the age of 10, following the first polio infection in over 25 years in a Palestinian child.
