Hamas release vid of murdered Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin as family say sick clip is ‘immediate wake-up call’
HAMAS has released a sickening propaganda video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages recently murdered by the Palestinian terror group.
His grieving family called the deaths a “wake up call” for the rest of the world to take action for the release of the remaining captives still being held in Gaza after nearly a year.
The IDF recovered Goldberg-Polin’s body on Saturday, along with those of five other murdered hostages.
All six were executed by their Hamas captors roughly 48 to 72 hours before soldiers arrived at the Rafah tunnel where they were found, according to the Israeli army.
It is thought the six hostages were killed after their guards received a tip off that Israeli troops were approaching.
His funeral took place on Monday.
Hamas released the video while his family were still the seven-day Jewish Shiva mourning period.
The family of the 23-year-old American Israeli said in a statement: “No other family should endure what we went through.”
They added the Hamas video “must serve as an immediate wakeup call to the world to act today to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages before it is too late.”
Hamas has previously issued similar videos of some of the hostages it is holding, in what Israel has described as psychological warfare.
The clip on Thursday was the latest in a series that Hamas pledged to release at the beginning of the week, featuring the six murdered hostages.
The bodies of Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi were also brought back to Israel along with Goldberg-Polin’s.
Earlier in the week, Hamas published videos of Yerushalmi, Danino, Gat and Lobanov.
Questions have been raised about how contemporary the videos were.
In Gat’s video she gave her age as 39 but she turned 40 in May, during captivity.
It is not known when the footage of Goldberg-Polin was filmed.
Israel authorities, human rights groups and a number of freed hostages have said the hostages are coerced into making their remarks in the videos.
In the clip, Goldberg-Polin speaks in English, rather than in Hebrew, the language he used in footage released by Hamas in April.
At the beginning, he introduces himself, saying he was born in Berkeley, California, and currently resides in Jerusalem, Israel, and that he holds dual US-Israeli citizenship.
Goldberg-Polin became a well-known, recognisable face having his picture circulated around the world after he survived the October 7 attack on Israel, having had his left forearm blown off by a hand grenade.
Will there be a ceasefire?
While the Palestinians and Israelis may be slowly inching towards agreeing a ceasefire no deal is likely any time soon.
Talks have been going on for nine months without an agreement despite Egypt, Qatar and the United States all acting as mediators.
A huge breakthrough came in mid-August when Netanyahu accepted the framework of a ceasefire deal to stop the Gaza war.
Hamas, who has sworn to eradicate the Israeli state, branded the peace moves as “an illusion”.
Talks are ongoing in Cairo although little progress has been made since.
The deal had been held up by Hamas demands that Israeli troops must leave the 25-mile coastal strip where it claims 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by the military bombardment in the past ten months.
Israel had advocated its forces stay in two corridors of territory to stop Hamas receiving arms from its backers Iran.
His parents also waged a high profile campaign calling for his release.
He had turned 23 just four days before setting off to the Re’im Forest for the Nova music festival.
In the disturbing video, he said that he had received “almost no medical care” as well as only a little food and water.
He added he could not remember the last time he had seen the sun or been able to breath fresh air.
Goldberg-Polin also referred to there being “non-stop” airstrikes by the IDF and criticised the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also appealed to US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the American citizens “to do everything you can to stop the war, stop this madness and to bring me home.”
Goldberg-Polin rounds off the short clip with a message to his family, saying he loves me and misses them, adding he thinks about them every day.
He also urges them to remain strong for him.
A total of 251 hostages were abducted to Gaza on October 7 after Hamas broke a ceasefire deal and launched a bloody assault on Israeli which killed around 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians.
The bodies of the six hostages also fuelled huge demonstrations in Israel calling for a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Netanyahu has been blasted over allegations he is avoiding striking a deal in order to appease far-right elements in his coalition who fear any truce would bring an end to the war before the stated objective of eliminating Hamas is achieved.