Former Virginia resident among Israeli hostages found dead in Gaza

The murders of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a former resident of Richmond, and five other hostages whose bodies were found on Saturday have spurred mass protests across Israel demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining Oct. 7 hostages home.

“After 330 agonizing days since the brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th that left more than 1,200 dead and hundreds more held hostage, Johnathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg woke up to unimaginable news that no parent should ever receive. Suzanne and I are angered and heartbroken by the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a senseless murder at the hands of terrorists. Today, Virginians, Americans, and the world join the Goldberg-Polin family and the Keneseth Beth Israel Synagogue in prayer,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement released on Sunday.

Goldberg-Polin immigrated from the U.S. to Israel with his family in 2008, when Goldberg-Polin was 7.

He was among 40 Israelis taken hostage on the grounds of the Re’im music festival, where 364 people were killed in the early-morning hours of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

Goldberg-Polin, 23, was working with a nonprofit that was using soccer to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together when he was taken hostage, after terrorists threw grenades into a field shelter in which Goldberg-Polin and a friend, Aner Shapira, had taken refuge.

Shapira was killed in the attack on their shelter; Goldberg-Polin’s left arm was blown off from the elbow down.

After 11 months in captivity, his body, and the bodies of five other hostages, were found in a tunnel in Rafah.

Autopsies revealed that the captives had been shot at close range two to three days earlier.

“I am devastated and outraged,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel on Oct. 7. He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’ savage massacre. He had just turned 23. He planned to travel the world. I have gotten to know his parents, Jon and Rachel. They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable. I know all Americans tonight will have them in their prayers, just as Jill and I will.”

Cease-fire negotiations have been stalled for months, and many Israelis are blaming Netanyahu for failing to get a deal done, with the hang-up being his “total victory” strategy that seems likely to extend the war in Gaza for the foreseeable future.

Fueling the anger: CNN is reporting that Goldberg-Polin and at least two of the other hostages had been expected to be released in an eventual ceasefire.

“I am heartbroken for the Goldberg-Polin family, whose son and brother Hersh was brutally murdered by Hamas along with five other hostages abducted on Oct. 7, 2023,” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement. “Over the past 330 days, Rachel and Jon have demonstrated extraordinary strength and grace in the face of overwhelming personal devastation, drawing upon their love for Hersh to share his light and selfless spirit with the world and to advocate for his return. Hersh’s abduction while peacefully enjoying a music festival and subsequent murder is further evidence of Hamas’ violence and depravity, which have caused pain and suffering across the region for far too long. Today my prayers are with the entire Goldberg-Polin family as they mourn. May Hersh’s memory be a blessing,” Warner said.