Days after Israeli military recovered the bullet-riddled bodies of six hostages, Jerusalem has rebuffed President Joe Biden’s claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ‘not doing enough’ to finalize a ceasefire and hostage deal with the terrorist group Hamas.
President Biden at a White House on Monday announced that his administration was close to reaching a deal with Hamas, but criticised the Israeli leader for not being fully on board with the proposal.
“U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he was close to presenting a final proposal for a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and said he did not think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough to secure such an agreement,” Reuters reported.
Israeli officials rejected President Biden’s claim, reminding that is Hamas that has repeatedly rejected White House-backed ceasefire proposals, the Axios reported Monday:
A senior Israeli source said “it is puzzling that president Biden is pressing Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to the U.S. proposal as early as May 31 and to the U.S. bridging proposal on August 16, and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who continues to vehemently refuse any deal.”The Israeli source added that Biden’s remark “is especially dangerous when it is made just days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, including an American citizen.”
Hamas on Monday released a short clip showing the six murdered hostages conforming their identity on camera, Israeli media reports say.
In a depraved bid to torment the grieving families and demoralize the Israeli society, the terrorist group is ‘threatening’ to release their ‘last message,’ recorded shortly before their brutal execution.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Hamas has released a video on Telegram on Monday showing the six recently slain hostages speaking into a camera, while also announcing that it will release their “last message to the world” before they were killed.In the video, all six hostages whose bodies were found by the IDF on Sunday are seen confirming their identities before cutting to still threatening to release their “last messages.”The video ends with a threat to release the message in the coming hours.
The Israeli forensic experts conclude that Hamas terrorists executed six hostages hours before their bodies were recovered by the military in southern Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday retrieved the bodies of six hostages, including two women and a U.S. national, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists and dumped inside a terror tunnel in Rafah.
The murdered hostages were identified as former Richmond resident Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27. All hostages, except Kibbutz Be’eri resident Carmel Gat, were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7. Gat was visiting her parent at Kibbutz Be’eri.
All six bodies had multiple bullet wounds and were shot at point-blank range by terrorists, the Israeli doctors discovered in the autopsy. “The six dead hostages recovered from the Gaza Strip over the weekend were killed 48 to 72 hours before their autopsy, meaning between Thursday and Friday morning, the Health Ministry said Sunday,” The Times of Israel reported. “The ministry added that an examination carried out by Abu Kabir Forensic Institute found that all six hostages were shot multiple times from close range, indicating they were executed.”
Israel’s i24NEWS TV reported:
The Ministry of Health announced Sunday evening that the six bodies of the abductees, extracted from the Gaza Strip a day earlier, arrived this morning at the National Center of Forensic Medicine for autopsies.The examination found that the abductees were murdered by Hamas terrorists with several close-range gunshot wounds.They were identified as Ori Danino, Alex Lubnov, Almog Sarusi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, and Eden Yerushalmi.The forensic examination also concluded that the abductees died during Thursday to early Friday morning, about 48 to 72 hours before their examination.”We are hoping for the quick return of all the abductees,” the ministry said. “We’re partaking in the deep mourning of the Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Danino, Sarusi, Gat, and Lubnov families.””We did not know their exact location, we acted with extra caution after locating Farhan Kadi nearby,” the IDF said after bringing the bodies back. “The abductees were found about a kilometer away from where Farhan was located. It’s impossible to describe with words what the abductees have been through since October 7th. This news shakes us all. The abductees were brutally killed by Hamas terrorists a short time before we got to them.”
The bullet-riddled bodies of the hostages were uncovered from a 20 meter deep tunnel. The IDF did not have the precise location of the hostages, but was aware that Hamas was holding hostages in the area.
“Israeli forces discovered the bodies of six hostages in a 65-foot-deep [approximately 20 meter] tunnel in Rafah, approximately a kilometer from where hostage Farhan Alkadi was recently freed,” the Israel news website YNET reported Monday. “The IDF had no precise intelligence on the hostages’ location in recent months but knew there were captives in the sector, leading to a gradual and cautious operation in Rafah since the ground offensive began.”
IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, and other senior military officials on Sunday visited the Hamas terror tunnel in Rafah where bodies were discovered, the military disclosed in a statement. The Hamas-held stronghold of Rafah is still an active combat zone.
Thousands of Israelis, including country’s President Isaac Herzog, gathered in Jerusalem for the funeral procession of the 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
“Thousands arrived at the Kehillat Yerushalayim Funeral Home near the Har Hamenuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon to pay their final respects to American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered in captivity by Hamas terrorists last week,” Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported Monday. “Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke at the funeral.”
Large demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv and other Israel cities in solidarity with the remaining hostage languishing in Hamas captivity since October 7.
Israeli airstrike om Sunday destroyed a Hamas command and control center operating inside an abandoned school in northern Gaza, the IDF disclosed Sunday.
“A short while ago, with the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the area that previously served as the “Safad” school in Gaza City,” the Israeli military announced. “The command and control center was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out terror attacks against the IDF and the State of Israel.”
While Hamas executes Israeli hostage and uses Gaza residents as human shield, the Israeli military undertook painstaking effort to minimize civilian casualties in the airstrike. “Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF assured.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY