The bodies of six hostages, including a young American citizen, have been pulled from Gaza, fueling public anger at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to reach a deal with Hamas to free the remaining captives.
Israel's largest trade union federation, the Histadrut, announced a general strike on Monday that would shut down Tel Aviv airport and much of the country, while opposition leaders called for mass protests to force Netanyahu to speed up negotiations and save the lives of the remaining 101 hostages, some of whom are already believed dead.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Be'eri; Gersh Goldberg-Polina, a 23-year-old Israeli-American whose parents lobbied US President Joe Biden for his return; and four others kidnapped from the Nova music festival – Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Saroussi and Ori Danino – were found in a tunnel dozens of meters underground in Rafah and brought into Israel by the IDF early Sunday morning.
“Our initial assessment is that they were brutally killed by Hamas terrorists shortly before we arrived,” said military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
The IDF declined to provide further details, including how and when the hostages were killed, citing the need for family privacy and the early stage of the investigation.
A Hamas statement said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. The Israel Defense Forces called the Hamas statement “psychological warfare.”
The bodies were found a kilometre from where another hostage was being held. saved last week. However, the IDF had no concrete information about the whereabouts of the six hostages, a second spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said at a later briefing, indicating that they had not been killed during an active rescue operation.
“We had a general idea that hostages might be in the area and we conducted operations above and below ground.,” he said, adding that troops acted with great caution.
News of the deaths has deepened a political crisis in Israel, where many families of the remaining hostages accuse Netanyahu of holding up a US-backed deal by demanding that Israel retain territory on the Gaza-Egypt border.
“Instead of a deal, we are getting body bags,” said Histadrut leader Arnon Bar-David, declaring his belief that political considerations are holding up the deal.
“I call on the people of Israel to take to the streets tonight and tomorrow and call on everyone to take part in the strike,” he said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it lobbied the Histadrut to call for a strike “to put pressure on the cabinet and the prime minister to end the abandonment, rescue the living hostages and return the 101 hostages as part of the agreement.”
Netanyahu issued a statement blaming Hamas for the failure of hostage exchange talks, which included high-level talks in mid-August backed by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
“Hamas continues to stubbornly reject all proposals,” he said. “Even worse, at the same time it killed six of our hostages – whoever kills hostages does not want a deal.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologised to families for “failing to bring” their loved ones home safe and sound, and opposition leader Yair Lapid called for a nationwide strike.
The White House said Biden was “devastated and outraged” by the hostage deaths. “Hamas leaders will pay a price for these crimes,” he said. “We will continue to work around the clock to secure a deal that will secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is challenging former Republican President Donald Trump in the November presidential election, also criticized Hamas.
“The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel — and American citizens in Israel — must be eliminated, and Hamas will not be able to control Gaza,” she said. “The Palestinians have also suffered under Hamas rule for nearly two decades.”
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that kidnapped about 240 people on October 7, blamed the US and Israel for the hostages' deaths because of their delays in negotiating a deal, one of its senior leaders said in a statement on Telegram.
War was triggered after Hamas launched a cross-border raid that killed 1,200 people in Israel that day, according to official estimates. Israel's subsequent war with Hamas has left more than 40,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health officials.
The ensuing 10-month hostage crisis appears to have no resolution in sight, despite several rounds of high-level talks involving mediators.
On Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said the U.S. and Israel must “increase the cost” to Iran and its oil industry if they want to bring the hostages home. “Iran is the great Satan here. Hamas is the junior partner,” Graham said.
Talks on another exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a possible ceasefire in Gaza have stalled in recent weeks over Netanyahu's demands for the IDF to maintain a presence on the Gaza border with Egypt.
Many of the hostages' families say it undermines the chances of a deal with Hamas, which has demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from the besieged enclave.
Israel's Channel 12 reported over the weekend that Netanyahu had a row with the defense minister Yoav Gallantand formally asked the security cabinet to support his demand.
“The cabinet must meet immediately and reverse the decision taken on Thursday,” Gallant said after the bodies were recovered. “It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood.”