Israeli-American hostage dead after IDF finds ‘multiple bodies’

In a statement posted on Instagram, the family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old man taken hostage during the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival, said they were “devastated” by the death of their son.

“It is with broken hearts that the Goldberg-Polin family announces the passing of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks everyone for their love and support and asks for privacy during this time,” the family said.

Confirmation of Goldberg-Polin's death came after Israeli forces announced on Saturday that they had found “a number of bodies” in Gaza.

President Joe Biden confirmed this in a statement, saying six bodies of hostages held by Hamas were found “in a tunnel beneath the city of Rafah.”

“Earlier today, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in a tunnel beneath the city of Rafah. We have now confirmed that one of the hostages killed by these vicious Hamas terrorists was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin,” he said.

Biden subsequently described Goldberg-Polin as one of the “innocents who were brutally attacked on October 7 while attending a music festival for peace in Israel,” pointing out that he “lost his arm while helping friends and strangers during Hamas' brutal massacre.”

In April, Hamas published a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Telegram in which part of his left arm was conspicuously missing and he spoke under duress.

In the video, he said: “I was arrested on October 7 at the Nova concert in Re'im. Instead, I was fighting for survival with severe injuries all over my body. Despite this, I took it upon myself to protect myself and the people around me who were afraid, because there was no one to protect us that day.”

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Hersh Goldberg-Polin is the son of Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, who both gave an emotional speech at the Democratic Party Convention almost two weeks ago.

According to the JerusalemPostHersh Goldberg-Polin was born in California but moved to Israel at the age of seven. He is described as a lover of football and electronic music.