President Isaac Herzog asked for forgiveness from the families that the State did not manage to bring them back alive.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
President Isaac Herzog was among a host of Israeli leaders who mourned the deaths of six Israeli hostages at the hands of their Hamas captors, whose bodies were recovered Saturday by the IDF in Rafah.
The lifeless forms of Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarus, and Eden Yerushalmi were found just one kilometer from the tunnel in the southern town on the Egypt-Gaza border where Farhan al-Qadi was rescued alive by IDF forces last week.
In announcing the news, IDF Chief Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that according to the army’s initial assessment, they were murdered “shortly before” IDF troops reached them.
“The heart of an entire nation is shattered to pieces upon learning of [their] murder,” said President Herzog in a statement. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I hug their families to my heart, and ask for forgiveness…for not being able to bring your loved ones home safely.”
“We will continue to fight to the end the criminal terrorist organization Hamas, which has proven once again that there is no end to its murderousness and the crimes against humanity that it is willing to commit,” he continued.
Herzog also vowed that the work to find the rest of the 101 hostages, over a third of whom are dead, would continue.
“The blood of our brothers cries out to us,” he said. “Our sisters and brothers are still there in hell. The supreme covenant between the State and its citizens is to keep them safe. We have the sacred, courageous and urgent task to bring them home!”
Senior right-wing ministers Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) and Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, extended their deepest condolences to the families while focusing on the need to destroy Hamas.
The terror organization, said Ben-Gvir, is “a bitter enemy that must be struck with all our might, without mercy and without allowing the entry of fuel and humanitarian aid (only in exchange for humanitarian [actions]), to respond to the slaughter of our brothers and sisters with a mortal and painful blow.”
Smotrich called the battle between Israel and Hamas an “unfathomable contrast between light and dark, good and evil.”
Meanwhile, Opposition leaders Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Benny Gantz (National Unity) reacted in pain for the families but spoke critically of the government that they said has failed its citizens miserably.
“This morning broke the heart of an entire country, except for those who stand at its head,” said Lapid.
“The deaths of Hirsch Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Uri Danino and three other abductees could have been prevented,” he claimed, but “instead of making a deal, they are playing politics; instead of saving lives, they are burying those abducted; instead of doing everything to bring them home, Netanyahu is doing everything to stay in power. The government of disasters is burying the State of Israel.”
Gantz was only slightly less harsh, first acknowledging that Israel is fighting “despicable murderers, headed by [Yahya] Sinwar, and all of them have one judgment – death. They are the ones who caused the death of our hostages.”
“But unfortunately,” he continued, “unlike our fighters, who are risking their lives in combat and rescue efforts, there are those who did not do everything to prevent this death. Prime Minister Netanyahu hesitates, is afraid, and plays for time due to political considerations instead of acting. [It is] a game that costs human life.”
“The hostages are dying, the children of the north are in exile, and Israeli society is falling apart…. It’s time to change this total failure of a government. Go out to the streets,” he concluded.