Who were the 6 hostages whose bodies the Israeli military recovered from Gaza?
Israel said early Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages captured during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that ignited the Gaza war, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose parents had led a high-profile campaign for the captives' release.
The military said the six were killed shortly before Israeli forces were to rescue them and that the bodies were found in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The news sparked calls for mass protests by families of the hostages who said they could have been returned alive in a cease-fire deal.
Goldberg-Polin and four other hostages were taken from a music festival where Palestinian militants killed scores of people. The sixth was captured from a nearby farming community.
Here's a look at the hostages:
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23
The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade blast in the Oct. 7 attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him with his left hand missing, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.
His parents, U.S.-born immigrants to Israel, became perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the international stage. They met with U.S. President Joe Biden, Pope Francis and others and addressed the United Nations, urging the release of all hostages.
On Aug. 21, his parents addressed a hushed hall at the Democratic National Convention — after sustained applause and chants of “bring him home.”
“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said his father, Jon Polin. His mother, Rachel, who bowed her head during the ovation and touched her