One of the hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was an American citizen. Israelis lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of torpedoing efforts to secure a cease-fire in exchange for the hostages’ release.
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The Israeli military said on Sunday that six bodies found in Gaza were hostages who had been “brutally murdered” by Hamas, setting off a wave of nationwide grief mixed with anger.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military’s chief spokesman, said the bodies had been recovered a day earlier from a tunnel underneath the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, close to where a seventh hostage,
Farhan al-Qadi, was found alive last week.
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Advocates for the hostages and members of Mr. Netanyahu’s political opposition swiftly accused the Israeli leader of torpedoing monthslong efforts to broker a deal with Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages, further imperiling them.
“For 11 months, the government of Israel led by Netanyahu failed to do what is expected of a government — to bring its sons and daughters home,” a group representing the families of hostages said in a statement. “Netanyahu: Enough of the excuses. Enough of the spin. Enough of the abandonment.”
The raw responses to the deaths — Israel’s military said an initial assessment showed the hostages had
been killed by Hamas shortly before being found — put into focus the stark divisions within Israel over the war.
Many hostage families and their supporters have called for a deal with Hamas without delay, even if it leaves the group intact. Mr. Netanyahu and his allies have said a bad deal with Hamas could put Israel’s long-term security at risk.
On Sunday, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, appeared to protest Mr. Netanyahu’s approach to the cease-fire negotiations. He responded to news of the dead hostages by calling for the reversal of a cabinet decision last week to keep Israel’s forces in the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the border of Gaza and Egypt that Israeli officials say Hamas has used to smuggle in weapons.
Hamas has demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, including from the corridor. In the cabinet meeting last week, Mr. Gallant strongly opposed the decision, insinuating that it was tantamount to abandoning the hostages, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, publicly accused Mr. Netanyahu on Sunday of turning his back on the hostages.