The bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Eden Yerushalmi were found in Gaza on Sunday.
Israelis woke to the news Sunday that the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Eden Yerushalmi — had been found in Gaza after they’d been killed by Hamas. In a short, emotional post shared in an Instagram Story, actress Gal Gadot, herself a former soldier in the Israeli military, wrote, “the heart is broken into pieces today.”
“They survived almost 11 months in captivity and then were murdered by Hamas,” Gadot wrote. “People who became an inseparable part of our hearts, families who waited so long for a different end, the heart is broken into pieces today. 101 more hostages still there.”
In the hours that followed the announcement, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, “According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them.”
Israeli health ministry spokesperson Shira Solomon told Agence France-Presse, “The six hostages were murdered by Hamas terrorists with several close-range gunshots.”
Officials from Hamas have blamed Israel for the deaths and said that three of the hostages — Goldberg-Polin, Gat and Yerushalmi — were expected to be released as part of the failed July 2 ceasefire agreement.
