JERUSALEM – Body of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Paulin was found “shot and wounded” in a 60-foot-deep tunnel, his grieving parents told NBC News in their first interview. his deathWarning that the number of hostages still inside the Gaza Strip “will not be much greater”.
At a large and emotional meeting in Jerusalem last week, they expressed their anger at the poor conditions in which their son was held, their anger at the failed diplomatic process and their fear that the war would escalate.
Goldberg-Paulin's father, John Palin, and mother, Rachel Goldberg-Paulin, said they felt it failed as a high-profile initiative. Sound Armistice Agreement to bring your son home from Hamas captivity.
in Their son was kidnapped by militants for years In the video, seen around the world, they felt like “pawns in a game of chess,” his mother said, while world leaders were unable to resolve the “surplus of pain, suffering and suffering on both sides” of the Israel-Gaza border. Her husband, the anniversary to speak after a while October 7 terrorist attack, Called for an end to the “endless cycle of bloodshed and war” in the Middle East.
It's a region “up against the wall,” warned John Palin, with Israel now at war not just in Gaza, Lebanon and engaged in increasing exchanges with Iran. “We can let the current situation take us in one of two different directions,” he said. he. “I hope we pick a brave one.”
Goldberg-Polin, 23, was born in Berkeley, California, and moved to Israel with her family when she was 7 years old. He was among 251 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
Since then, 154 people have been released, leaving 101 hostages still in Gaza, 33 of whom are believed to be dead. Seven American hostages are believed to still be in Gaza, three of whom are presumed dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced angry protests from Israelis who suggested he end the war and repatriate prisoners.
Israel's year-long military offensive in the Gaza Strip killed more than 42,000 people, most of them women and children, and injured 95,000, according to the Palestinian enclave's Ministry of Health.
“We are not the only losers,” said Rachel Goldberg-Paulin. “There are thousands of people in Israel who have lost people; There are thousands of people who have lost people in Gaza.”
There is “a lot of excess pain”, he added.
A geography lover who planned a trip around the world last December, his son was at Israel's Supernova Music Festival when Hamas attacked in the early hours of October 7, 2023. While he and about 30 men hid in a roadside bunker , the militants soon began throwing grenades inside. His friend, Aner Shapiro, 22, managed to throw seven grenades before being killed by the eighth.
Goldberg-Paulin's loved ones discovered she was alive when video showed her being placed in a militant's truck, her left arm amputated below the elbow. They would have to wait until April to know he had recovered, when a Hamas video showed him a healthy stump.
“He was kept in a tunnel 60 feet underground with no electricity and no plumbing,” said Rachel Goldberg-Paulin. At just 5 feet long and 2 feet wide, the passage was too narrow to stand in, he said.
“There were bottles of dark urine everywhere” because they were “so dehydrated,” she said. “And there was a bucket at the end of the tunnel” for other bathroom needs.
Somehow, his parents and two younger sisters did not give up hope of his return.
“We knew he was being held captive by a terrorist organization on a battlefield, missing an arm,” said John Palin. But “we were hopeful and optimistic,” he said. “We knew there could be another outcome, but it didn’t really cross our minds.”
On August 31, however, another result that had never been pronounced became reality.
They began to hear these rumors. Their son's body was among six people found in the tunnels under Gaza, possibly killed by militants when the Israeli military closed it two days earlier. The others were later confirmed as Carmel Gat, 40, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino.
Israeli and American officials showed up at Goldberg-Pollin's Jerusalem home in the early hours of the morning. “They don’t show up at your door at 4 a.m. with good news,” said John Palin.
His wife opened the door before he approached. “The fear of hearing a knock on the door with such bad news was something I didn’t think I could handle,” she said.
They discovered that Goldberg-Paulin was “trying to defend himself,” with one of the bullets going through his arm and the side of his head, his mother said. “So they put the gun to the back of his head and shot him.”
When they buried him two days later, he weighed just 55 kilos.
“It’s really important that the world knows that this is how these hostages are being held – they are starving,” said Rachel Goldberg-Paulin. “So while we are having this conversation, there are hostages in similar tunnels,” he said, presumably “surrounded by bottles of urine and buckets of feces, in total darkness.”
He added: “If this continues.”
Family members clearly know who has the greatest responsibility.
“Hamas committed a horrific genocide inside Israel,” said John Palin. “They are responsible for pulling the trigger that killed Harsh and five other beauties who were with him.”
But the responsibility doesn't end in your eyes.
“There are many world leaders in Israel, outside of Israel, who have failed to bring solutions,” he said. Asked whether they had spoken to Netanyahu since his son's death, John Palin said the prime minister's office contacted them, but they declined.
President Joe Biden There was optimism at times, but a deal remained elusive.
The Goldberg-Palin family asked “many world leaders” about the possibility of the kidnappers “lining up the hostages one by one and shooting them in the head,” John Palin said. “We were told repeatedly, 'No, that's not what's going to happen, the hostages are an advantage.'
They reserve some blame for themselves.
“What we have failed to do on our journey is shake the world to understand the urgency of this problem,” said John Palin. “We failed to invent Martin Luther King's 'great urgency now,' and part of the reason we're talking about it is that we still want to instill that urgency in the rest of the world.”
The concern now is not just for the remaining hostages, but for the region and perhaps the rest of the world.
Israel's attention is not only on Gaza, but also on its northern neighbor, Lebanon, from where After the October 7 attack, Hezbollah began firing rockets there, pledging support for the Palestinians. John Palin worries that he is “embroiled in perpetual war.”
Rachel Goldberg-Paulin added that the region “has been on this trajectory for decades, indeed centuries.” “If you look back at the history of warfare, you will see that it doesn’t work. It is not beneficial to anyone. So who will be brave enough? And the answer may be no one, but that is our challenge.”
Erin McLaughlin reports from Jerusalem and Alexander Smith from London.
