Grief mixes with anger after recovery of 6 dead hostages

JERUSALEM: Grieving and angry Israelis surged into the streets Sunday night after six hostages were found dead in Gaza, chanting "Now! Now!" as they demanded that PM Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.

Israel's largest trade union, Histadrut, pressured the govt by calling a general strike for Monday - the first since the Oct 7 Hamas attack that started the war. The strike aims to disrupt major sectors of the economy, including banking, healthcare and the main airport.

The military said all hostages were "brutally murdered" before Israeli forces arrived. Its health ministry later said that they were shot "with several close-range gunshots" approximately 48-72 hours before they were examined, or between Thursday and early Friday morning.

Netanyahu said he was "shocked to the depths" of his soul by the "coldblooded murder" of the hostages, adding that "whoever murders hostages doesn't want a deal." He also said, "The heart of the entire nation is torn."

Militants seized Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, and four other hostages at a music festival. The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him alive, sparking new protests in Israel. The other dead hostages were identified as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; also taken from the festival. The sixth, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the farming community of Be'eri.

The army said the bodies were recovered from a tunnel in Rafah, around a kilometre from where another hostage was rescued alive last week.

Initially, Hamas did not directly address the accusations, but said responsibility for the deaths lay with Israel. It later claimed, without proof, that the hostages were killed by the Israeli military's bullets.

Netanyahu vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed. Israel's Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu got into a shouting match at a cabinet meeting Thursday with defence minister Yoav Gallant, who accused him of prioritising control of a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border - a major sticking point in the talks - over hostages' lives.

Biden Sunday spoke with Goldberg-Polin's parents and offered condolences. "I am devastated and outraged. Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel," he said. "He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas' savage massacre. He had just turned 23."

Biden vowed to keep working toward an agreement but also issued a warning: "Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes."

Goldberg-Polin's parents, perhaps the most high-profile relatives of hostages on the global stage, confirmed his death Sunday "with broken hearts".

More than 60 living hostages, and bodies of about 35 other hostages, are still in Gaza, according to Israel. agencies