AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Israel's military announced today that it has recovered the bodies of six hostages held in Gaza since the start of the war. Among the six - an American Israeli citizen, whose parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention. President Joe Biden said he was both saddened and outraged at the news. And a spokesman for Israel's military says the hostages were killed by Hamas shortly before the military retrieved their bodies. NPR's Carrie Kahn is in Tel Aviv. Good morning, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: What has the reaction been there in Israel to this, you know, very sad news?
KAHN: There's been a flurry of reactions all morning, first from the official group of the families of the hostages. They expressed deep sorrow and outrage for Hamas for the killings but then stated, as they long have done, that they blame President - Prime Minister Netanyahu for not doing more to get the hostages out. Netanyahu himself issued a video statement earlier, too, condemning Hamas.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: He says, "to the Hamas terrorists who murdered our abductees and to their leaders, your blood is on your head. We will not rest. We will bring you to account."
RASCOE: These six hostages - what can you tell us about them and the lives that they led?
KAHN: They are some of the youngest hostages that were kidnapped on October 7 by Hamas militants and others. Five of them were taken from a musical festival that day at the Israel-Gaza border. The sixth was taken from a nearby border farm. They range in age from 23 to 40, and among them was one Israeli American whose parents and siblings are very outspoken and have met with leaders from the Pope to President Biden. Their son who was killed is 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin. And I want to play you, Ayesha, some tape from his mother, Rachel. I was at an event just a few days ago at the Israel-Gaza Border where families of the hostages tried to broadcast messages to their loved ones, and through loudspeakers, they shouted into Gaza. And here's Rachel Goldberg-Polin.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN: Hersh. Hersh. It's Mama.
KAHN: She went on to tell him to stay strong, and she was doing everything she could to secure his release. The military is not giving any more specifics about how the hostages were killed until autopsies are completed and made public. A spokesman did say they were found in a tunnel in Rafah in Southern Gaza, not far from where one hostage was found alive and rescued last week. And according to the prime minister's office, 101 hostages now remain in Gaza, though they believe that many - as much as a third of them - are already dead.
RASCOE: How have other officials and critics of the prime minister reacted?
KAHN: Political opponents took to social media to publicly blame Netanyahu for not reaching a deal. Netanyahu has long said, the only way to do that is what he says is total military pressure, and he won't make a deal that would include a full military withdrawal from Gaza, and that's what Hamas has demanded. The head of Israel's National Unity Party also blamed Netanyahu, tweeting he should protect the abductees and not his coalition controlled by extremists.
And also, this is very interesting, as there has been - of late, members of Israel's security apparatus have increasingly been vocal about their disagreements with Netanyahu's prosecution of the war. His defense minister demanded an emergency security council meeting be held today to make changes. And there are calls for mass protests throughout Israel today, which we will be watching closely.
RASCOE: And what is Hamas saying?
KAHN: Hamas has put out a statement not addressing directly responsibility for the killings, but did repeat its position that Israel is to blame for all the deaths because they say Israel refuses to negotiate with them to end the war. The latest death toll in Gaza since October 7 now has topped 40,600 people, according to the health ministry there. And to add, today is the start of a very ambitious and challenging vaccination drive in Gaza. U.N. health officials are going to try and vaccinate more than 600,000 children against polio, which has reemerged in Gaza, mostly due to the widespread destruction of so much of Gaza from Israeli airstrikes and bombs.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Carrie Kahn in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Carrie.
KAHN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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