By Raul Castillo
01 Sep 2024, 15:44 PM EDT
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday mourned the killing in Gaza of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose body was found Saturday night alongside that of five other hostages.
Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin. “He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during the savage Hamas massacre. He had just turned 23 and was planning to travel the world,” Biden wrote in a statement.
The president said Hersh’s parents, Jon and Rachel, have suffered the “unimaginable.”
“They have been tireless and irrepressible defenders of their son and all the hostages held in appalling conditions,” he said. “I admire them and feel deep sorrow for them, more than words can express.”
In his statement, Biden said Hamas leaders “will pay for these crimes” and vowed to continue to press for a deal to release the remaining hostages.
Biden and Harris speak with parents
A Biden administration official told NBC News that the president spoke with Goldberg-Polin’s parents to offer his condolences over their son’s death.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, meanwhile, spoke to Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents alongside her husband, Doug Emhoff, she said in a post on X today.
“My heart breaks as I think of their pain and anguish,” Harris wrote. “I told them: As they grieve this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our nation mourns with them.”
Hersh’s parents, Jon and Rachel, recently spoke at the Democratic National Convention to call for an end to violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas and to negotiate the release of hostages held since the Oct. 7 attack.
Continuing the Biden administration’s outreach to hostage families, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan plans to hold a virtual meeting today with the families of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, a National Security Council spokesperson confirmed to NBC News.
The reaction of other politicians
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said “America is in mourning this morning.”
“The United States mourns this morning for the family, friends, and loved ones of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and the five other hostages recovered by Israel,” he said in a statement Sunday morning.
He added: “Our hearts are especially broken for the families and friends of these brave souls who have been working tirelessly for eleven months to recover their loved ones.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, called for an end to the war in Gaza and called Goldberg-Polin’s death “a devastating and lawless murder committed by Hamas.”
With information from EFE.
Continue reading:
– What is known about Israel’s discovery of the bodies of six hostages in Gaza?
– Israeli soldiers shoot at volunteers in Gaza food program
– Israel manages to rescue hostage kidnapped on October 7 in Gaza