The Israeli military said its troops had recovered the bodies of six captives, including an American national, from a tunnel in southern Gaza as it continued its deadly 11-month assault on the Palestinian enclave.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war on Gaza began on October 7, after an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas killed more than 1,100 people. Palestinian fighters captured about 250 prisoners in the aftermath of the attack. The coastal enclave has since been reduced to rubble under relentless bombardment by Israel, which has been accused of delaying a ceasefire deal to free the prisoners.
The army said Sunday that their remains were recovered “in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” and returned to Israel where they were formally identified. It said the captives had been killed shortly before their bodies were recovered.
The captives were identified as Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi and Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Izzat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas official, said the six prisoners were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Al-Risheq also accused the United States of “bias, support and partnership” in the 11-month war in the besieged territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to “settle scores” with Hamas, saying: “We will hunt you down.”
“Those who kill hostages do not want an agreement” for a truce in Gaza, Netanyahu said.
But a forum of families of captives, who have criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the issue, called for a mass demonstration later Sunday, demanding a “complete shutdown of the country” to push for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining captives.
“A deal to return the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Without the delays, sabotage and excuses, those we learned of this morning’s deaths would likely still be alive. It is time to bring our hostages home,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
In a video statement on X, opposition leader Yair Lapid called on “every citizen whose heart is broken” to take to the streets to demand a ceasefire.
“Netanyahu and the cabinet of death have decided not to save the hostages. I call on the Histadrut (workers’ union), employers and local authorities to shut down the economy,” he added.
Netanyahu accused of ‘refusing’ to reach deal
Menachem Klein, a political science professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, accused Netanyahu and his cabinet of “refusing” to reach a deal to secure the captives’ release, a decision he said “signed the death sentence (for the Israeli captives).”
“Israel refuses to face reality,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune. “That’s the problem. And it has cost the lives of Israeli hostages.”
In a statement, US President Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the deaths of the six captives, including Israeli-American Goldberg-Polin.
Biden, whose administration supported and funded Israel’s bombing of Gaza, vowed that “the leaders of Hamas will pay for these crimes. And we will continue to work around the clock to reach an agreement to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
The ceasefire deal proposed by Biden in May, which included the release of captives, was rejected by Netanyahu.
Days earlier, Kaid Farhan al-Kadi, who belongs to a Bedouin community in southern Israel, was rescued about a kilometer away, the army said.
Israeli news site YNet quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that three of the prisoners killed were on a list approved by Hamas on July 2 for release. Tel Aviv Tribune, however, was unable to independently verify this information.
Among the confirmed dead is Carmel Gat, whose cousin Gil Dickmann has been organizing daily protests to pressure the Netanyahu government to negotiate with Hamas for the release of the remaining captives.
For Dickmann, the situation is personal. On October 7, her aunt Kinneret Gat was also killed in the Kibbutz of Be’eri in southern Israel.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is not listening!” Dickmann said at one of the demonstrations. “Benjamin Netanyahu, keep politics out of the negotiating room!”
About 100 captives still remain in Gaza while 105 were released under a deal with Hamas, which made a ceasefire a condition for the release of the remaining captives.
But Israel is accused of war crimes and atrocities against Palestinians. The International Criminal Court has requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes. Arrest warrants have also been requested for two Hamas leaders.
