The news out of Israel compounds the horror of the October 7 massacre. Here is the opening of the Times of Israel story by Emanuel Fabian:
The bodies of six hostages abducted alive by Hamas on October 7 were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah overnight, shortly after they were murdered by terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday.
The hostages were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.
Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Lubnov, Sarusi and Danino (an off-duty noncommissioned officer) were abducted from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, while Gat was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri.
Their bodies were found with gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of their bodies, the Ynet news site reported. An autopsy found they were murdered in the 48 hours prior to the discovery of their bodies, the report said.
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 did not have 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, some 20 meters underground, on Saturday and found the hostages, dead, in the afternoon. Their bodies were extracted from Gaza overnight and brought to Israel for identification.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has refused to prioritize the lives of hostages over Israeli national security or the defeat of Hamas. Israelis who condemn him for refusing to doing so — Fabian’s story is full of quotes to this effect, including several from his Defense Minister — seem to me misguided. Caroline Glick refers to the authors of those quotes as “Sinwar’s Israeli accomplices.” I’m with Glick. However, Netanyahu hasn’t publicly argued for the subordination of the former to the latter (and has released no statement on the murder of the six hostages).
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was an American citizen. His parents spoke last month at the Democratic National Convention. The White House has issued a statement on his murder in the name of President Biden. It concludes with false bravado and a reiteration of support for “a deal” that is in tension with it: “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.” As I translate this statement, Hamas leaders will not pay for these crimes if Biden or Harris gets his or her way.
The Times of Israel credits the collective photo of the murdered hostages below to the Hostages Family Forum via the AP.
UPDATE: Prime Minister Netanyahu has released a recorded statement that the Times of Israel covers in this story.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning:
“This is a difficult day for us.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: pic.twitter.com/Fs8qqlhJUm
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 1, 2024
STEVE adds: It tells you how little Hamas fears the Biden administration that they murdered an American hostage right after that hostages parents addressed a nationwide TV audience at the DNC.
