The family members have expressed their anger and will protest against the “abandonment” of the Government, which has asked for their “forgiveness.”
The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area, south of the Gaza Strip, and that they had returned to Israeli territory.
The dead, all taken hostage during the Hamas attack on October 7, have been identified as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino.
Their bodies were located about a kilometre from where the Bedouin hostage, Kaid Farhan al Qadi, was found alive last week, army chief Hagari said.
The discovery brings the number of people still held captive down to 97, from the 251 kidnapped on October 7. Of those, at least 33 are confirmed dead.
Anger of relatives
“A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for more than two months. If it were not for the delays, the sabotage and the excuses, those whose deaths we learned of this morning would probably still be alive,” the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families reacted to the news, announcing demonstrations this Sunday in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
“Netanyahu: Enough excuses. Enough spin. Enough abandonment. (…). The time has come to bring home our hostages: the living to rehabilitate them and the dead and murdered to bury them in their country,” he reiterated, before calling on the population to “get ready” to demonstrate against the “abandonment of the hostages” by the government. “Netanyahu abandoned the hostages. Now it is a fact. Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble (…). The country will come to a standstill. No more abandonment,” he said on the aforementioned platform.
Herzog asks for forgiveness
For his part, Israeli President Isaac Herzog has apologized “on behalf of the State of Israel” to the families of the six hostages.
“On behalf of the State of Israel, I embrace their families with all my heart and apologize for not being able to bring them home safe and sound,” Herzog said in a statement today, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not yet sent his condolences.
Source: Eitb
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