Demonstrators lie on the ground in white plastic bags simulating dead bodies, take part in a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv, Israel. AP
"Some of the names of the captives announced as found by the Israeli occupier... were part of the list of captives to be released that Hamas had approved" in a proposed exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.
Meanwhile , an Israeli official also told AP that three of the captives, including the American - Israeli Goldberg-Polin, had been slated to be released in the first phase of a cease-fire proposal discussed back in July.
Hamas has offered to release the captives in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the captives would still be alive if Israel had accepted a U.S.- backed cease-fire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to back in July.
The recovery of captives bodies sparked calls for mass protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom many Israelis blame for failing to bring them back alive in a deal with Hamas to end the 10-month-old war. Negotiations over such a deal have dragged on for months.
Netanyahu said Israel would hold Hamas accountable for killing the hostages in “cold blood,” and blamed the group for the stalled negotiations, saying “whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal."
U.S. President Joe Biden, who has met with Goldberg-Polin's parents, said he was “devastated and outraged.”
“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible,” he said. “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining captives .”
Vice President Kamala Harris said her prayers were with the Goldberg-Polin family and condemned Hamas.
Bombing continues despite huminitarian pauses
Despite pledge to huminitarian pauses in fighting to facilitate a campaign of vaccinations against polio in Gaza, Israel continued to launch airstrikes on Gaza.
The Palestinian health ministry said Sunday that Israel has killed 47 people in the previous 24 hours, rising the death toll in Gaza to at least 40,738 people since the war started.
The toll includes according to ministry figures, which also list 94,154 people as wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
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