Hersh Goldberg-Polin: The ‘happy-go-lucky’ Israeli-American who became a symbol of Israel’s enduring hostage heartbreak

(CNN) — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the most recognizable faces of the heart-wrenching hostage crisis that sparked the Israel-Hamas war, has died at the hands of his captors, according to the Israeli military, bringing a crushing end to a tireless and high-profile international campaign by his parents to secure his release.

The 23-year-old Israeli-American’s ordeal had come to symbolize the pain and agony of the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza, with banners and murals demanding their return often displayed in Jerusalem and around the world.

His murder, announced Sunday, has sparked fresh heartbreak and horror for the hostage families who fear that time is running out for their loved ones seized by Hamas as pressure grows on the Israeli government to secure a ceasefire agreement.

Goldberg-Polin, who was among the hundreds of young people attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7, was forced to hide in a bomb shelter with his friends as Hamas militants launched a surprise attack, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

As Hamas militants began to lob grenades into the bunker, Goldberg-Polin rushed to throw them out, before his arm was blown off from the elbow down, according to a firsthand account from his friend. When the gunfire settled, Goldberg-Polin was forcibly taken by Hamas gunmen. That was the last time his friend saw him.

The first sign of life from Goldberg-Polin came in April, six months after his capture.

He was shown in a hostage video released by Hamas, with part of his left arm missing and hair cropped short. Speaking in Hebrew, he said he had been “here for almost 200 days” and called on his parents to stay strong for him.

More than four months later, the young Israeli-American was confirmed dead, according to a statement from his family released by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time,” the family said in the statement.

CNN has reached out to the family.

The Israeli military said his body was found “brutally murdered” alongside five other hostages in Hamas-run tunnels under the city of Rafah and that they were killed “a short while” before troops were able to reach them.

Two Israel officials later told CNN that three of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered in southern Gaza were expected to be released during the first phase of an eventual ceasefire agreement. Goldberg-Polin was among them.

Goldberg-Polin, alongside hostages Eden Yerushalmi and Carmel Gat, were slated to be released as part of the “humanitarian category” based on the framework Israel and Hamas agreed to in early July, the officials said.

“Our prime minister delayed it,” one of the Israeli officials said. “It’s way too late for the six who have been killed, but it’s time to reach an agreement.”

Heartbreak of hostage families

The fate of Goldberg-Polin had tied the fate of the hostages and US policy over the Israel-Gaza war more inextricably together. His parents have been among the most vocal of the hostage families pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a deal securing their relatives’ return. They’ve also regularly met top US officials in Washington to press the case of the hostages.

Days before his confirmed death, Goldberg-Polin’s parents made an emotional plea for their son’s return at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“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 Goldberg-Polin’s father Jon Polin.

Since their son’s abduction, “we live on another planet,” his mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin said. “Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that Jon and I and all the hostage families are enduring.”

Their speech was greeted with an extended ovation and chants of “bring him home” by the thousands of Democratic delegates at the convention, echoing a phrase that has become a mantra in Israel for the families of those taken hostage.

The couple wore pieces of tape with the number 320 written on them, marking the number of days their son had been held hostage.

‘Obsessed’ with geography

Born in Oakland, California, Goldberg-Polin immigrated to Israel with his family at age 7.

An elder brother to two sisters, he was a “happy-go-lucky, laid back, good humored, respectful and curious person” who loved soccer and music, according to his mother.

“He has been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little boy,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said during her DNC speech. “His bedroom overflows with atlases, globes, maps and National Geographic magazines.”

Goldberg-Polin was planning to go on a round-the-world trip in December 2023 after the music festival, Rachel Goldberg-Polin previously told CNN, but he never returned.

On October 7, he went to the Nova music festival in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel border with his best friend Aner to celebrate his 23rd birthday, according to his mother.

“As rockets began to fall Hersh, Aner and 27 other young festival goers took refuge in a 5-feet-by-8-feet bomb shelter. Terrorists began to throw grenades into the shelter, Aner stood in the doorway and repelled seven of those grenades before the eighth one killed him,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said.

A young woman who was in the same shelter at the time had previously told his parents that Goldberg-Polin, who was left-handed, helped to throw grenades out of the bunker before getting his left arm blown off from the elbow down. He was later taken on a truck by gunmen and driven off, eyewitnesses told his parents.

Footage taken on the day of that attack showed Goldberg-Polin being marched out of the shelter – with his hand blown off and bone protruding from his wrist – and thrown along with four others into the back of a truck.

The first time Goldberg-Polin’s parents saw that video was following an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in October. The pair were recalling eyewitness accounts of how their son was taken into captivity during a live TV interview, when Cooper realized he had heard details of the story before.

Days earlier, an Israeli soldier at the site of the Nova festival had shown Cooper the video. During the interview, Cooper realized the young man in the video was his interviewees’ son.

Not wanting to spring the news on them on live TV, Cooper contacted the couple after the interview and asked if they wanted to see the video. They later confirmed the man in the video was their son and asked that the video be shared more widely.

The latest hostage deaths up the stakes for the Biden administration to push US ally Israel to find a way out of a devastating war in Gaza that has inflamed global public opinion and repeatedly threatened to spiral into an all-out regional conflict.

It also puts pressure on Netanyahu to agree a deal as fears grow that more captives will die and the ongoing destruction in Gaza could spark a wider regional war.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the health ministry in the enclave.

“There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East in a competition of pain. There are no winners,” Jonathan Polin said at the DNC last month.

“In an inflamed Middle East we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region. A deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza. The time is now.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

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