Grief and blame over Hamas murder of six hostages

Hamas’s murder of six hostages kidnapped on October 7 has prompted a widespread outpouring of grief and anger in Israel and the Diaspora.

Much of the anger is directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, at about the time the hostages were being slaughtered, was telling cabinet that he prioritised retaining the Philadelphi corridor over the lives of the hostages. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said he was horrifed by Netanyahu's statement.

The bodies of the six hostages abducted alive by Hamas on October 7 were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Saturday night, with multiple gunshot wounds. They were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.

Forensic examination shows they were shot 48-72 hours before rescue - between Thursday and Friday morning. it is believed they may have been killed because Hamas believed the IDF was close to a rescue attempt. A Hamas spokesman said that after the successful rescue of four hostages in June, guards were instructed to kill hostages if Israeli troops approached.

Netanyahu has issued a rare apology to the families of the six executed hostages but insisted that he would not cave on the issue of retaining an IDF force in the Philadelphi Corridor.

“I ask for your forgiveness that we did not succeed in bringing them home alive. We were close, but we did not make it,” Netanyahu said in a special press conference.

But Netanyahu spent the bulk of his press conference defending his decision to hold fast to the Philadelphi Corridor, maintaining that it increased the chances of returning the remaining 101 hostages.

'These murderers executed six of our hostages. They shot them in the back of the head. That’s what’s changed, and now after this, we’re asked to show seriousness. We’re asked to make concessions. What message does this send Hamas?“

He said Israel would not leave the corridor. "The moment Hamas understands this, we will have a deal,” he said.

Many Israelis believe their government could have done more to rescue these hostages before they were killed, by being more flexible in ceasefire negotiations.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday night and a general strike brought the country to a standstill on Monday. Tel Aviv Labour Court ordered the strikers back to work on Monday afternoon, accepting a government petition that the strike was politically motivated and unrelated to workers’ rights, and thus illegal.

The murder of Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin among the hostages has particularly captured international attention.

Asked on Monday if Netanyahu was doing enough to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, US President Joe Biden, responded simply "No".

Goldberg-Polin was celebrating his 23rd birthday at the Nova Festival on October 7 when his arm was blown off by a grenade and he was abducted to Gaza. His funeral on Monday was attended by thousands of Israelis as vigils were held around the world.

Among the mourners was Israel's president Isaac Herzog, who said, "As a human being, as a father and as the president of the state of Israel, I want to say how sorry I am that we didn't protect Hersh on that dark day. How sorry I am that we failed to bring him home."

The impact on the national psyche is profound (Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post).

On October 7, that Israeli anger was universally directed at Hamas. Eleven months later, the anger is still focused first and foremost at Hamas – after all, they are the kidnappers and the murderers – but it has become diffused.

Some direct the anger and the blame at the government and its head, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, believing that he is responsible and that he could have approved a deal that would have led to the release of the hostages. They disregard the notion that Hamas did not want a deal. For these people, Netanyahu could have saved the hostages and can still save the remaining hostages, but because of his own political considerations, he chooses not to.

Others are directing their anger at those directing their anger at Netanyahu and the government.

In their minds, “the bring them home at all cost” camp would save the lives of the remaining hostages, but in a way that would ensure many more Israeli hostages and victims in the future. They argue that it is madness to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor and that Hamas is insisting on this because it is the only way it will be able to survive and re-arm.

They say equally that it will be madness to release hundreds of Palestinian terrorist murderers, who will only go on to take more hostages and kill them in the future – just as among the 1,027 prisoners released for Gilad Schalit were the masterminds and some of the perpetrators of October 7.

The grief is shared by all; the anger is not – and it is this diffused anger, directed in different directions, that made Sunday morning’s news even more painful.

'Netanyahu knew the Israeli hostages were on borrowed time. Their blood is on his hands' (Gidi Weitz, Haaretz)

"He knew the hostages are living on borrowed time, that the sand in their hourglass was running out," a senior official in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said over the weekend. "He knew there were orders to kill them if there'd be rescue attempts. He understood the significance of his orders and acted in cold blood and cruelly."

"They all knew he is corrupted, a narcissist, a coward," the official continued, "but his lack of humanity was fully revealed in all its ugliness in recent months." He added, "The blood is on his hands, without absolving Hamas of any responsibility."

The prime minister is indeed the main culprit for the horror that transpired in the tunnel under Rafah, which ended on Sunday with six fresh graves. But he's not the only guilty party. Direct responsibility for the tragedy also falls on Likud cabinet ministers, the pathetic gang that made the Philadelphi corridor a holy place, after months of saying "amen" to every step the prime minister took.

Netanyahu’s so-called ‘supreme effort’ for a hostage-ceasefire deal has been skewed, inadequate (David Horovitz, Times of Israel)

There is no telling what Hamas would or could agree to. But a deal and even temporary ceasefire offers the potential for either the calming of the north or a redirection of Israel’s finite military resources to that front. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and the US administration argue that it also offers the best chance of averting a full-scale regional conflict.

Most importantly, it would show Israel’s leadership prioritising its fundamental obligation to redeem the hostages — many of them civilians, whom the state failed to protect on that terrible Shabbat morning. As things stand, as the toll of hostages killed since October 7 mounts, the prime minister’s predictions of “total victory” become ever more untenable, offensive, and disconnected from Israel’s reality.

“Our efforts to free the hostages continue all the time,” Netanyahu said in his video statement. But Thursday’s security cabinet meeting tells a rather different story. And Sunday’s terrible tidings show what is at stake — that every passing day brings the risk of more deaths that, just possibly, could have been avoided.

Could this latest act of Hamas barbarism have been prevented? Possibly. Could and should Netanyahu and his government have done more to try to avert it? Yes.

The claim that only Israeli military pressure can free hostages was always wrong. Now it's shattered (Amos Harel, Haaretz)

Anyone now talking about a decisive defeat of Hamas, after the IDF has operated systematically on the ground throughout the Gaza Strip, other than in two refugee camps in its central area is in fact saying that he is aware that there is a good chance the other hostages will die, deliberately at the hands of Hamas or erroneously at the hands of the IDF during such operations.

Such a person should also tell the public what we still hope to achieve in the Gaza Strip. What is the price we'll have to pay for attaining that goal?

Public opinion polls, the latest of these published over the weekend, continue to point to large public support for a deal, to a mistrust of Netanyahu's considerations and to a fierce desire to see him depart from politics, despite the clear weakness of the opposition. If such positions are not translated again into public protests in the streets, the remaining hostages will die.

At this point, there is no reason to relate seriously to leaks reporting progress being made in talks held by working groups in Cairo, which deal with a cease-fire and a hostage deal. The discussions over the identities of Palestinian prisoners to be released and about the ratio determining their numbers have become futile, as long as Netanyahu is signalling that he has no intention of withdrawing from the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors.

It is apparent that the prime minister wishes to maintain the permanent flames in Gaza without striving for an imminent resolution (other than the ongoing efforts to assassinate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar). This is his highest priority. The further heavy costs, such as the anticipated deaths of more soldiers, an immense deterioration in conscript and reserve units, do not particularly bother him.

READ MORE

Bodies of 6 hostages, murdered by Hamas just days ago, found in Rafah – IDF (Times of Israel)

Netanyahu apologizes for hostages' deaths, defends Philadelphi Corridor decision (Jerusalem Post)

Netanyahu tells ministers he prioritizes Philadelphi over hostages, horrifying Gallant (Times of Israel)

Hamas hints six slain hostages extracted by IDF were murdered because troops were near (Times of Israel)

One of the most devastating days of the last 11 months': Protesters demonstrate over hostage deaths (CNN)

Court shuts down Histadrut strike, accepting government claim it was political (Times of Israel)

Biden and Netanyahu at odds again after US president says Israeli PM not doing enough in ceasefire-hostage release talks (CNN)

We Failed You': Thousands Gather to Bury Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Israeli-American Hostage Murdered by Hamas (Haaretz)

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