Israel's Prime Minister: Anyone who murders hostages does not want a ceasefire

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret over the deaths of six hostages and said the killings were proof that Hamas does not want a ceasefire.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that the news of the hostages' deaths had shocked him deeply.

He accused Hamas of killing them “in cold blood” and said Israel would hold the group accountable. He also accused the group of thwarting ongoing ceasefire efforts.

“Anyone who murders hostages doesn’t want a deal,” he said.

Critics in Israel accused Netanyahu of delaying ceasefire talks – a charge he denies.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS. The previous AP story follows below.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Sunday it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including that of a young Israeli-American man who became one of Hamas's most high-profile prisoners after his parents met with world leaders and advocated for his release, including at last month's Democratic National Convention.

The military said all six were killed shortly before Israeli forces arrived to try to rescue them. Their recovery sparked mass protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom many of the hostages' families and much of the Israeli public blame for failing to release the hostages alive despite a deal with Hamas that was supposed to end the 10-month war. Negotiations for such a deal have dragged on for months.

In another development, gunmen killed three people when they opened fire on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has carried out large-scale military strikes in recent days. Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service confirmed the casualties.

The war was triggered by the Hamas attack on October 7, in which militants arrested 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin and four other hostages at a music festival in southern Israel.

The Berkeley, California, native lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. In April, a video released by Hamas showed him without his left hand and clearly speaking under duress, sparking new protests in Israel calling on the government to do more to ensure his freedom and that of others.

The army identified the other hostages as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; who were also abducted from the music festival. The sixth hostage, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be'eri.

It said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, about a kilometer from where another hostage, 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi, was rescued alive last week.

“According to preliminary information, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before our arrival,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israeli military spokesman, told reporters.

Hamas has offered the release of the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-ranking militants.

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, blamed Israel and the United States for the hostages' deaths. He said they would still be alive if Israel had accepted a ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to in July. He did not mention the hostages by name.

Calls for a “complete standstill of the country”

Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and has said military pressure is needed to bring the hostages home. Israeli television Channel 12 reported that he got into a war of words with his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, at a security cabinet meeting late Thursday. Gallant accused him of putting control of a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border – a key sticking point in the talks – above the lives of the hostages. The cabinet reportedly voted to stay in the corridor, despite objections from Gallant, who said it would prevent a hostage deal.

An Israeli official confirmed the report and said three of the hostages – Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi and Gat – were to have been released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July. The official was not authorized to brief the media on the negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“On behalf of the State of Israel, I carry their families in my heart and ask for forgiveness,” Gallant said on Sunday after the hostages' remains were recovered. He later called on the cabinet to reverse its decision. Netanyahu initially made no comment.

A forum of hostage families called for mass protests on Sunday and demanded a “complete shutdown of the country” to force the implementation of a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

“A deal to release the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Without the delays, acts of sabotage and excuses, the people whose deaths we learned of this morning would likely still be alive,” it said in a statement.

President Joe Biden, who met with Goldberg-Polin's parents, said he was “devastated and outraged.”

“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible,” he said. “Make no mistake, the Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will continue to work around the clock to reach an agreement that will secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said her prayers were with the Goldberg-Polin family and condemned Hamas.

A campaign with great public interest

Goldberg-Polin's parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of the hostages on the international stage, meeting with Biden, Pope Francis and others and speaking at the United Nations to demand the release of all the hostages.

On August 21, his parents gave a speech to a silent audience at the Democratic National Convention, to sustained applause and shouts of “Bring him home.”

“This is a political convention. But the fact that we have to bring our only son – and all the beloved hostages – home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said his father, Jon Polin. His mother, Rachel, who bowed her head and clutched her chest during the ovation, said: “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you. Stay strong and survive.”

She and her husband tried to protect her son and the other prisoners from being downsized. She described Hersh as a music and football lover and a traveler who wanted to attend college after his military service ended. At events, she often spoke directly to her son, hoping he could hear her, and urged him to live one more day.

On October 7, around 250 hostages were kidnapped. Before the military announced the recent discovery of the bodies, Israel had said it believed that 108 hostages were still being held in Gaza and that about a third of them were dead. At the end of August, the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages in the southern Gaza Strip.

Eight hostages were rescued by Israeli forces, the last of which was found on Tuesday. More than 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians held captive in Israel.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in two previous Israeli hostage rescue operations. Hamas says several hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who had escaped from captivity in December.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they entered southern Israel on October 7, attacking army bases and several farming communities.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who did not say how many were fighters or civilians. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee their homes, often multiple times, plunging the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.

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Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

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