Israelis Forces Recover the Bodies of Six Hostages, Including One American Citizen

Matt Vespa reporting for Townhall 

As Israel’s justified war against Hamas raged, the terror group still held over 100 hostages. Once again, a ceasefire agreement was rejected by Hamas last week. Tragically, Israeli forces made a gruesome discovery this weekend in Gaza: the bodies of six hostages were recovered, including one American (via Axios): 

Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including one American citizen, Israeli officials said. 

Why it matters: The recovery operation took place amid continued efforts to reach a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal. 

After the operation, there are 101 hostages remaining in Gaza.

Driving the news: The recovery operation took place on Saturday afternoon local time but it took many hours to officially identify the bodies and notify the families, Israeli officials said. 

Israeli officials said it is still unclear when and how the hostages were killed but at least some of them were still alive in recent months. 

The six bodies belong to three men and three women who were kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The body of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a U.S. citizen who became the symbol of the American hostages held by Hamas, was among those recovered.

 Goldberg-Polin was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April.

His parents recently spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with thousands in the audience chanting "bring them back" and calling for the release of the hostages. 

The publication reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet has been openly disagreeing about the situation. 

Axios’ Barak Ravid reported, “Two days ago, an Israeli security cabinet meeting turned into an unprecedented shouting match between Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant over this issue.” 

“Gallant, IDF chief of staff Gen. Herzi Halevi, and Mossad director David Barnea claimed Netanyahu's proposal to vote on a resolution to maintain full Israeli control along the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border would undermine a possible deal,” he added. 

Yet, how many agreements have been rejected by Hamas? It’s reached a point where we can no longer count. While it’s a politically cold position, there must be a tacit acknowledgment that negotiations are futile with this band of vicious thugs, and the destruction of the terror group must be where all resources and time are devoted—they’re not going to release the hostages. They know it’s what’s keeping them alive. The full release of the hostages will only buy a short reprieve before Israeli military and intelligence forces wage a shadow war to kill the rest of Hamas. These are terrorists—they cannot be reasoned with. 

In a bit of good news, there was an IDF rescue operation in Rafah, where an Arab-Israeli, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52. Biden had warned Israel to avoid this area. The IDF rightfully ignored our senile president.