Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, is one of 6 Israeli hostages killed by Hamas in Gaza, IDF reports
A protester holds a poster with a photo of 23-year-old U.S.-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin as people gather with signs calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7, during a rally in Tel Aviv Oct. 28. Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
By Jodi Rudoren August 31, 2024
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the best-known hostage held by Hamas since Oct. 7, was one of six kidnapped Israelis whose bodies soldiers discovered shot dead in a Gaza tunnel on Saturday, prompting hostage families to promise a major protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Together with all citizens of Israel, I was outraged to the depths of my soul by the horrific, cold-blooded murder of six of our hostages.” Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday. “I say to the Hamas terrorists who murdered our hostages and I say to their leaders: You will pay the price. We will not rest, nor be silent. We will pursue you, we will find you and we will settle accounts with you.”
Goldberg-Polin, 23, was a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. He loved music, soccer and geography, and was kidnapped from the Nova music festival after having his forearm blown off by a Hamas grenade. His mother, Rachel, became the international spokesperson and conscience of the movement supporting the hostages, meeting with the president of the United States and the pope, speaking at the United Nations and the pro-Israel rally in Washington D.C.
Her ubiquitous wearing of a piece of masking tape with the number of days Hersh and the other hostages had been in captivity became a potent symbol of the crisis, mimicked by supporters. Saturday was Day 330.
“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh” a family spokesperson, Matt Krieger, said via WhatsApp message at 10:52 p.m. ET Saturday, or just before 6 a.m. Sunday in Jerusalem. “The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time.” A similar message were posted soon after on the #BringHershHome Facebook page.
‘The heart of an entire nation is shattered’
A few hours later, Israeli officials released the same news, along with the names of five others whose bodies were recovered on Saturday. They said the hostages were found in a tunnel in Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, shot in the head by Hamas shortly before the Israeli forces’ arrival; Hamas later said in a statement that the six were killed by Israeli fire but presented no evidence of such.
Four of the murdered hostages had also attended to Nova festival: Ori Danino, who was 25 and had returned to the festival site after helping rescue others; Alexander Lobanov, a bar manager from Ashkelon whose third child was born while he was in captivity; Almog Sarusi, who was 27, from Raanana, and captured as he tried to treat the wounds of his girlfriend; and Eden Yerushalmi, a 24-year-old aspiring pilates instructor from Tel Aviv. The sixth body recovered was Carmel Gat, 40, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, where her parents lived (her mother was killed during the attack).
“They were held hostage by Hamas and murdered in cold blood,” the defense minister, Yoav Galant, said in a statement commending troops “for conducting a complex operation to retrieve the bodies” for burial in Israel. “May their memory be a blessing.”
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog followed with a statement saying “the heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces with with news” apologizing the the families “for failing to bring them home safely.”
“The blood of our brothers cries out to us,” Herzog added. “We have the sacred and urgent mission to bring them home.”
Netanyahu’s statement came at 4:45 a.m. ET, followed a few hours later by news that he had with Lobanov’s parents, expressing “deep regret” and apologizing “that the state of Israel did not succeed” in returning their son and the others home alive. “Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal,” he said in the first statement. “The government of Israel is committed, and I am personally committed, to continue striving toward a deal that will return all of our hostages and ensure our security and our existence.”
‘If you can hear us, we love you’
Funeral services for Goldberg-Polin are slated for Monday at 4 p.m. in Jerusalem. That will be 12 days after his parents, Rachel and Jon. delivered a stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where a packed crowd at the United Center welcomed them with cheers of “Bring them home, bring them home” and then stood mainly in rapt silence for nearly nine minutes.
As they have so many times before, they told the story of how Hersh was born in Oakland, California, and made aliyah with them while in elementary school. How he went to the Nova festival with his best friend, Aner Shapira, and how they and 27 others fleeing the festival took refuge in a roadside shelter, which was soon attacked by terrorists. How Shapira, a soldier, threw back seven Hamas grenades and was killed by the eighth, and how Hersh was gravely injured before being loaded onto a truck and “stolen” off to Gaza.
“Hersh, Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you,” Rachel said at the end. “Stay strong.”
Four months ago, around Passover, Hamas released a propaganda video of Goldberg-Polin in captivity, saying, “It won’t be a happy holiday for me, but I wish you one.”
The three-minute video showed a pale but relatively healthy looking Hersh, lifting up his left arm to show a surgical amputation, and saying he has been living in underground tunnels “without water, food or sun” and without “the treatment I need for so long.” His clearly scripted statement chastised Netanyahu for “neglecting” hostages and “thousands of other citizens.”
‘The country will grind to a halt’
Relatives of the hostages called on the Israeli public to stage major demonstrations starting Sunday night against Netanyahu and his right-wing government for failing to secure a deal to release the remaining hostages, many of whom are believed dead. Israel’s largest labor union called a general strike on Monday.
“Netanyahu abandoned the hostages,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Saturday. “It is now a fact. Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. The country will grind to a halt. The abandonment is over.”
That statement followed one from the spokesman for the Israeli military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, who said that Israel Defense Forces had “located a number of bodies during combat in the Gaza Strip.”
Galant, the defense minister, responded to the news Sunday by suggesting the cabinet reverse its recent decision to keep Israeli troops in the Philadelphi corridor, at Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, suggesting a crack in Netanyahu’s coalition and war cabinet. Hamas has insisted that all Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza as a condition of a ceasefire deal that would release hostages.
Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition in Israel’s parliament, squarely placed the blame on the prime minister. “They were alive,” he said of the hostages. “Netanyahu and the cabinet of death decided not to save them. There still are living hostages there, and it’s still possible to do a deal. Netanyahu isn’t doing it for political reasons.”
‘The entire world mourns with you’
Within minutes of the Goldberg-Polins sharing the sad news on Facebook, hundreds had shared their condolences.
“As a fellow Jewish parent, I am crying with you in this moment,” wrote one, Riva Atlas.
“Hersh was my son, too,” said sanother, Sharon Dizenhuz. “I worried with you. My heart broke with you. I hoped with you. I was so very grateful to you for your big-hearted bravery. This is excruciating for all the Jewish people.”
“The entire world mourns with you,” added Shaina Katzoff-Sugar.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also released statements and condolences on Sunday.
“I have gotten to know his parents, Jon and Rachel,” Biden noted. “They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable. They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express.”
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said that she had told the Goldberg-Polins “You are not alone” when they met earlier this year, and “that remains true as they mourn this terrible loss.”
“Hamas is an evil terrorist organization,” she continued. “With these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands. I strongly condemn Hamas’ continued brutality, and so must the entire world.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
