Hamas hostage video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin should be a ‘wake-up call,’ parents say

A propaganda video released by Hamas on Thursday showing American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of six Hamas hostages killed last weekend in Gaza, should be an “immediate wake-up call to the world” to focus on securing a cease-fire deal, his parents said.

“We are in the midst of the seven day Jewish mourning period after burying our son Hersh,” Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin said in a statement on Thursday shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents families of the hostages.

But the couple — outspoken advocates for a deal to end Israel’s nearly year-long assault on the Gaza Strip and secure the return of those still held captive — said they felt compelled to speak out once again after Hamas released the new video of Hersh.

It was taken before he was killed, nearly 11 months after being taken hostage at the Supernova music festival, where he also lost part of his arm in a blast during Hamas’ Oct. 7. terror attacks.

The video was one of a series released by Hamas this week showing the six hostages, who Israeli officials say were killed by their captors before they could be rescued by Israeli forces. Hamas has said militants have been operating under new instructions on how to handle hostages if Israeli forces approach the locations where they’re being held.

The forum has accused Hamas of conducting “psychological terror” against the families of hostages through the “calculated releases of distressing footage.”

In their statement, Goldberg and Polin said they were nonetheless OK with the video being shared widely. They called on the international community to “take action today” to secure the release of the hostages who remain in Hamas’ captivity “before it is too late.”

“No other family should go through what our family (and the families of the other recently executed hostages) have endured,” they said.

Around 100 people are believed to remain in Hamas’ captivity after some 250 people were taken captive and some 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials. At least around a third of the hostage are believed to be dead.

Goldberg and Polin have also been outspoken in the need for compromise in negotiations to end the suffering not only for hostages and their families, but also for Palestinians in Gaza. More than 40,800 people have been killed in the enclave, local officials said, since Israel launched its deadly offensive after Hamas’ attacks, which marked a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.

At Hersh’s funeral on Monday, his mother said she prayed that her son’s death would be a “turning point in this horrible situation in which we are all entangled.”

Yet there has been little sign of progress in talks in the days since, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushing off intense pressure from all sides to drop his insistence on keeping Israeli troops in an area along the Gaza-Egypt border.

He maintained Thursday that an agreement was far from “close,” even as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “90 percent is agreed.”