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The Israeli Army confirmed on Sunday that six bodies had been found hostage They were reportedly taken to Israeli territory from underground tunnels in the Rafah area south of the Gaza Strip Efei.
Los Angeles All were taken hostage during the October 7 attack HamasThey have been identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Sunday The six hostages were allegedly killed by Hamas shortly before the troops arrived.Their bodies were also located one kilometer from where Bedouin hostage Caid Farhan Qadi was found alive last week, according to preliminary investigations.
After the discovery, the number of people still abducted dropped from 251 on October 7 to 97. At least 33 of them were confirmed dead.
“The deal to return the hostages has been under discussion for more than two months.. Without the delays, sabotage and excuses, those whose deaths we learned this morning could still be alive,” declared the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which announced demonstrations this Sunday in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, after hearing the news.
When Palestinian militias and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement, three of the hostages were included in the list of possible release.
Israeli President apologizes
President of Israel, Isaac Herzog also apologized on Sunday to the families of the six hostages “on behalf of the State of Israel.”: “On behalf of the State of Israel, I embrace your family with all my heart and apologize for not being able to bring you home safely.”
Herzog also pledged to continue the fight against Hamas “uninterruptedly,” recalling that there is a “supreme agreement” between the state and its citizens that their safety should be guaranteed. “We have a sacred and urgent mission to bring them home,” the leader said, referring to the 97 hostages still in Gaza.
In a separate message of condolences to the victims’ families, Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced that the six had been “murdered in cold blood” and congratulated army units and internal intelligence for the “complex operation” carried out to recover the bodies.
Among the dead was American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 24, who was born in California.whose family confirmed his death via a Facebook message.
Hersh was kidnapped and injured while attending the NOVA music festival on October 7. As shown in the video of the attack, he was forced to use a tourniquet and had one hand amputated. Just four months ago, in a propaganda video released by Hamas on April 24, Hersh appeared to be in good health and read a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he had not done enough to rescue the hostages.
According to EFE, his family is among the most active in the fight for the captives’ return. In November, his mother, Rachel, was one of 12 family members who met with Pope Francis at the Vatican.
“Hersh, we work day and night, and we will never stop,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin reiterated on August 29, as a convoy of relatives of hostages headed to the Gaza border to demand the release of their loved ones.
General Strike
Israel’s largest trade union organization, the Histadrut, announced a general strike starting on Monday that would paralyze the Israeli economy, including Tel Aviv airport, in support of the protest movement demanding a ceasefire with Hamas to release Gaza hostages.
“Starting at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, the Israeli economy will come to a halt. At 8:00 a.m., the airport will be closed and takeoffs and landings will be suspended,” Histadrut president Arnon Bar-David reportedly said in a statement. Efei.
After meeting with relatives of the abductees, David Bamberg assured “The (truce) agreement is more important than anything else” The Israeli government has not signed the agreement “due to political considerations.”
“We got body bags, not deals. “I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can mobilize those who need to be mobilized,” he stressed.
Massive demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and dozens of locations across Israel on Sunday night.
“They are still alive. Netanyahu and the death cabinet decided not to save them. There are still hostages there, a deal can still be reached. Netanyahu is not doing this for political reasons,” lamented opposition leader Yair Lapid, who heads the Yesh Atid party and has called on unions to go on a general strike.
“I will be attending this evening’s protest in Tel Aviv out of love for the Israeli state and society, and out of a real anxiety about our future,” said National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against Netanyahu and his far-right government.demanding early elections and a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that would allow the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.
“Those who murdered the kidnapped people don’t want to make a deal,” he said in his defence on Sunday The prime minister made a recorded speech shortly before asking for “forgiveness” from the family of one of the slain hostages.
Ceasefire talks aimed at freeing Gaza’s remaining hostages have stalled amid mutual accusations that the United States has made new demands in its proposal to extend a ceasefire in May.
Nearly 11 months after the war broke out, only a one-week truce was reached at the end of November, and 105 hostages were released..
At least 48 Gazans were killed in Israeli bombings on Saturday, according to Palestinian health authorities, while displaced civilians are living in overcrowded conditions, suffering from shortages and the spread of disease. Some 40,700 people have died and more than 94,000 have been injured since October 7.An estimated 10,000 bodies remain buried under tons of rubble.
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