IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said an initial assessment indicated that the hostages were “brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.”
The IDF named the victims as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sergeant Ori Danino.
After the death of Goldberg-Polin, an American citizen, was confirmed, U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the news.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the “heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces with the news” of the killings.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A group representing the families of those held hostage in Gaza, the Hostages Families Forum, has demanded that Netanyahu “address the nation and take responsibility for abandoning the hostages.” The group said that all six captives were “murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture, and starvation in Hamas captivity,” the BBC reported.
