Unfathomable cruelty of Hamas ghouls and a nation left with a broken heart

The unspeakable cruelty of Hamas in filming the final messages of six murdered Israeli hostages has further plunged Israel into despair and turmoil, amid a growing popular uprising against its hardline leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The six Israeli hostages murdered in Rafah last week.

The unspeakable cruelty of Hamas in filming the final messages of six murdered Israeli hostages has further plunged Israel into despair and turmoil, amid a growing popular uprising against its hardline leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hundreds of thousands of ­people have flooded the streets across the country in the largest protests since the start of the Gaza war amid unprecedented public pressure for a deal to end the war and release the remaining hostages.

The execution of the six young hostages in Rafah last week, shortly before Israeli troops reached them, has broken Israel’s heart. It was further compounded by the cruel release by Hamas of undated videos of each of the six as they sent what would be their final message to their families. Their bodies were found at the weekend in a tunnel complex where each had been shot in the head.

Their deaths have unleashed a tsunami of anger and rage ­towards Netanyahu who is accused by critics of contributing to their deaths by repeatedly delaying a ceasefire deal with Hamas to secure their release. It also led to a blunt rebuke of the Israeli leader by Joe Biden. When asked if Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a ceasefire and hostage agreement, the US President replied “No”.

Netanyahu was defiant in the face of the growing protests and criticism, saying that any let-up in the fighting with Hamas right now would send the wrong message of “murder more hostages, you’ll get more concessions”.

He said the terrorist group “would pay a heavy price” for the deaths of the six hostages and said more military action against the group was necessary.

Nowhere was Israel’s broken heart more palpable than on a dusty hillside in Jerusalem where thousands gathered to bury one of the murdered hostages, 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose family had led an international campaign to free him.

“OK, sweet boy, go now on your journey,” Goldberg-Polin’s mother Rachel said as her son was buried. “I hope it is as good as the trips you dreamed about ­because finally, my sweet boy, ­finally, finally, ­finally, finally you are free.

“Maybe, just maybe, your death is the fuel that will bring home the remaining hostages.”

Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin had become the face of hostage families, crisscrossing the world to lobby for their freedom, meeting Biden, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and Pope Francis.

They appeared on stage at last month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Rachel said: “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you. Stay strong, survive.”

The options for the ­besieged Netanyahu are dwindling fast. Public pressure on him to work harder to secure a ceasefire deal is soaring yet if he offers too many concessions to Hamas, his fragile coalition government, which includes far right nationalists, could collapse.

Biden said he hoped a final deal for a ceasefire and a hostage exchange could be presented this week. The deal has been delayed repeatedly by Hamas and Netanyahu as each side has backtracked and demanded new conditions.

The main sticking point is Netanyahu’s insistence that Israeli troops continue to remain in the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the border on Gaza and Egypt.

Hamas says no deal is possible if Israeli troops stay, and the initial draft agreement of a ceasefire/hostage deal called for a major reduction in ­Israeli forces there during the first stage of a ceasefire.

But Netanyahu has backed away from that part of the deal and now says Israeli troops must stay to prevent the movement of weapons and ammunition across the border to Hamas.

“This is the oxygen of Hamas,” he said. “If we leave, there will be enormous diplomatic pressure upon us from the whole world not to return. “No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me (but) no one will preach to me on this issue.”

Calls for Netanyahu to work harder for a ceasefire deal has grown as it has become increasingly clear that the remaining hostages are unlikely to be rescued alive through military action.

Biden’s push for Israel to strike a ceasefire deal with Hamas has intensified after the Pentagon last month concluded that Israel had achieved all it could militarily in its war against Hamas.

It assessed that further airstrikes in Gaza by Israel would only risk more civilian casualties.

Despite this, Netanyahu has continued to push for what he calls “total victory” over Hamas, something the US believes is not possible and also unnecessary, given that Hamas is too weak to launch another October 7-style attack on Israel.

Of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, there are 97 remaining in Gaza, of which at least 34 are known to be dead.