The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday recovered the bodies of six hostages, including two women, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists in Gaza captivity.
The bodies were located inside a terror tunnel in the Hamas stronghold of Rafah. The military retrieved the bodies “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip and returned them to Israeli territory,” the IDF disclosed in a statement Saturday night.
The murdered hostages were identified as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27. All of these hostages were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
The Times of Israel reported the details of the IDF operation that led the discovery of the bodies:
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the six were “brutally murdered” by Hamas shortly before troops arrived — possibly only a day or two before they were found.“According to an initial assessment… they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short while before we reached them. They were abducted alive on the morning of October 7 by the Hamas terror group,” Hagari said in a press conference.“Their bodies were found during the fighting in Rafah, in a tunnel, about a kilometer away from the tunnel from which we rescued Farhan al-Qadi a few days ago,” he said.The IDF said that it had not had the exact location of the hostages but had indications of a general area where the six could be held, and was therefore operating carefully in the area.“Since Farhan was found, troops were given an emphasis on operating carefully even more than usual, because of the understanding that additional hostages may be in the area. We did not have information on the exact location of the hostages,” Hagari said.Troops began to search a tunnel complex on Saturday and found the hostages, dead, in the afternoon. Their bodies were extracted from Gaza overnight and brought to Israel for identification.
The 23-year-old Israeli-American hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was among the murdered hostages discovered by the IDF.
The CBS News reported the Goldberg-Polin family’s response to the grim discovery:
Goldberg-Polin’s family issued a statement early Sunday, hours after the Israeli army said it had located bodies in Gaza.”With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” it said. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.”Goldberg-Polin was one of the best-known hostages as his parents had met with world leaders and pressed relentlessly for their help. Earlier this month, they addressed the Democratic National Convention, where the crowd chanted “bring them home.”
The Israeli armed forces were searching for the remaining hostages in operations across Gaza. “The IDF and Israeli security forces are operating with all means to bring home all the hostages as fast as possible,” the Israeli military assured Saturday night,
The six bodies were recovered from the same area where the IDF on Tuesday rescued the 52-year-old Bedouin-Israeli hostage, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, from a Hamas terror tunnel.
On August 20, the Israeli Special Forces retrieved the bodies of six hostages from the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis. Many of those bodies contained bullet wounds, Israeli forensic investigators confirmed.
People across Israel gathered in the memory of murdered hostages. “The occupational therapy team and employees of the Loewenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center in Raanana gather in memory of Carmel Gat, who was an occupational therapy student there, and in memory of the five other hostages who were murdered in Hamas captivity,” The Times of Israel reported.
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