Biden, Harris to meet with US hostage deal negotiating team as massive protests erupt in Israel
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plan to meet in the White House Situation Room on Monday with the US hostage deal negotiating team after the murder of six hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, by Hamas on Saturday.
The White House said the focus of the meeting is to discuss efforts to drive toward a deal that secures the release of the remaining hostages. The meeting is closed to the press.
Mobs of protesters took to the streets in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities Sunday after the bodies of the hostages in Gaza were returned to Israel, fueling frustration and anger toward the country’s leadership for failing to achieve a cease-fire deal freeing the remaining hostages.
Israeli media reported that the crowds of protesters were estimated to be up to 500,000 in major Israeli cities. Many of the protesters demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages.
Reuters reported that Israel’s leadership estimates that nearly a third of the remaining hostages are dead.
While protests remained strong Sunday, labor leaders called on workers to be part of a one-day strike Monday.
“We are getting body bags instead of a deal,” Histadrut Labor Federation chief Arnon Bar-David said to reporters Sunday, according to Reuters. “We must reach a deal. A deal is more important than anything else.”
The Histadrut Labor Federation is Israel’s main labor union that represents hundreds of thousands of workers. Bar-David’s call for a one-day strike was supported by manufacturers and tech entrepreneurs in the country.
Israel’s military announced that the bodies of hostages Carmel Gat, 40, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino, 25, were recovered from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
A polio vaccination campaign had begun in the war-torn Gaza Strip, which sparked violence in the occupied West Bank.
The bodies of the six hostages have since been returned to Israel, according to military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
An Israeli health ministry spokesperson said a forensic analysis of the bodies determined the hostages were “murdered by Hamas terrorists in a number of shots at close range” 48 to 72 hours prior.
After learning of the news, protesters blocked streets in Jerusalem and held a demonstration outside Netanyahu’s residence. In Tel Aviv, protesters blocked the main highway while holding flags with images of the murdered hostages.
During the protests, police reportedly arrested about two dozen Israelis nationwide, Reuters reported.
After the hostages’ bodies were recovered, Netanyahu said in a statement that he was “shocked to the core” by the murders.
“He who murders abductees does not want a deal. We are in a difficult day. The heart of the entire nation was torn,” Netanyahu said.
“Along with all the citizens of Israel, I was shocked to the core by the terrible cold-blooded murder of six of our abductees.”
War has been raging in the Middle East since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a series of attacks on Israel, sparking Israel to declare war soon afterward. An estimated 257 Israeli hostages were trapped in Gaza when the war first began, and 101 hostages are still in Gaza. Of the 101 remaining hostages, 66 are believed to be alive, four of whom are American citizens.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Emma Colton and Reuters contributed to this report.
