Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were apparently killed not long before Israeli troops reached them, the military said on Sunday.
“According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in a briefing.
Days earlier, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel, was rescued about a kilometre away, the military said.
The Israeli military said the bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino had been brought to Israel.
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After Mr Alkadi was located, Israeli troops were told to be more cautious because of the likelihood that there might be other hostages in the area, but there had been no precise information on their location, Mr Hagari said.
The six were among 251 people taken hostage during the October 7th attack, 97 of whom remain captive in Gaza including 33 the Israeli army says are dead.
[ Israeli hostage deaths harden Netanyahu’s tough line on ceasefireOpens in new window ]
Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq on Sunday blamed Israel for the death of the six hostages, saying Israel was unwilling to reach a deal.
The recovery of the six bodies has sparked calls for mass protests against Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who many families of hostages and much of the wider Israeli public 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.
Mr Netanyahu has taken a tough line in negotiations and repeatedly said that military pressure is needed to bring home the hostages. According to Israeli media, he has feuded with top security officials who have said a deal should be reached urgently.
Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would not rest until it catches those responsible for the killing of the six hostages. He said in a statement that Israel was committed to achieving a deal to release remaining hostages and ensure Israel’s security. He said: “Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Sunday for a strike to shut down the country’s economy in order to increase the pressure on the government to reach a deal to release the remaining hostages.
Mr Lapid, who is also a former prime minister, called on every Israeli “whose heart was broken this morning” to join a major protest in Tel Aviv later in the day. He also called on Israel’s main labour union, businesses and municipalities to go on strike.
Ireland joined international condemnation of the killings, with President Michael D Higgins saying: “As the international community looks on, they must insist that it is time for all remaining hostages to be released by Hamas, for an immediate ceasefire, for a serious exchange of prisoners to take place, and for all necessary aid to be provided to those who need it.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said he was “deeply saddened by the tragic news from Israel of the killing of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas in captivity”.
“My thoughts and solidarity, and those of the Irish people, are with the families of the six people who have been so brutally murdered, and with their communities and the Israeli people as a whole as they confront this terrible news.”
He said: “We urgently need to see a ceasefire and the release of all remaining hostages... Even in this dark moment, I urge all involved to redouble their efforts to reach such a deal.”
At least 40,738 Palestinians have been killed and 94,154 injured in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 7th, the enclave’s health ministry said on Sunday.
On Saturday clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin. Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
At least two Israelis were killed when their vehicle was fired on near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported on Sunday. The military earlier confirmed the shooting incident, saying three people had been wounded and that security forces were searching for the attackers.
US president Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” after learning of the deaths of the six hostages. Goldberg-Polin was an Israeli-American; after being captured at a music festival near Gaza, he appeared in a video released by Hamas in late April.
“He had just turned 23, he planned to travel the world,” said Mr Biden. His parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, “have been courageous, wise and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” Biden said.
"They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express," the president said.
Biden vowed that “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 hostages”.
Vice-president Kamala Harris said in a statement: “I strongly condemn Hamas’s continued brutality, and so must the entire world.” Ms Harris, the Democratic candidate running to succeed Mr Biden, said she and he would never waver in their commitment to free the Americans and all those held hostage in Gaza.
Earlier, speaking to reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Mr Biden said he was “still optimistic,” about a ceasefire deal to stop the conflict.
"I think we're on the verge of having an agreement," he said. "It's time this war ended."
Mr Biden said: “We think we can close the deal, they’ve all said they agree on the principles.”
The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their 11-month war to allow the campaign to go ahead.
The World Health Organisation confirmed last month that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years. – Reuters, additional reporting the Guardian