Hersh Goldberg-Polin was one of the hostages captured by Hamas at the October 7, 2023 music festival. In September, the young man's parents confirmed his death in a statement, after his body was found by the Israeli military.
Captured on October 7 last year, Hersh Goldberg-Polin ended up dying at the hands of the Hamas group. The body of the young Israeli-American was one of six found by the Israeli military in the tunnels under Gaza. In an exclusive interview with CNN, the parents said that they "were waiting for a global demand" and that they "are still waiting for that" for the release of the remaining hostages.
They also said in the same interview: "The world has failed us. The world has failed so many hostages, including Hersh." They also said that they expressed their concerns about a possible execution of the hostages by Hamas, given the increasing military pressure. However, Israeli officials assured that this was unlikely to happen.
Although Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg tried to be optimistic about their son’s possible return home, “there was always a doubt in the back of our minds that it would end this way.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, along with other hostages, were expected to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. The hostages’ deaths sparked protests in Israel over the failure of the deal by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
In the interview, the young man’s parents also called on “people in power” to save “the 101 hostages who remain in Gaza.”
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was one of the hundreds of young victims of the surprise attack by Hamas on a music festival in southern Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed at the same festival and around 250 were taken hostage.
