‘The world failed us’: Parents of slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin grapple with ‘crushing’ loss

Both parents were wearing stickers with “374” written on them to mark the number of days that have passed since the hostages were taken captive to Gaza by Hamas.

“I was certain that we were going to see a global demand for action and I’m still waiting for it. The world failed us … the world failed so many of these hostages, including Hersh,” Polin said.

Goldberg-Polin was one of six hostages whose bodies were discovered by the Israeli military in tunnels under Gaza shortly after they had been killed by Hamas.

Polin said when he and his wife had voiced concerns that Hamas might execute the hostages as military pressure mounted, Israeli officials had reassured them such an outcome was highly unlikely.

Along with two of the other murdered hostages, Goldberg-Polin had been expected to be released during the first phase of an eventual ceasefire agreement. The hostage deaths led to widespread anger and nationwide protests in Israel over the failure by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to strike a hostages-for-ceasefire deal.

“We worried a little bit about that all along. Within all our optimism that we were going to get Hersh home, there was some doubt in the back of our minds that it could end this way,” he said. “I worry that if we don’t save others soon, there are going to be other families getting the horrific news that we’ve received.”

Goldberg urged “people in power” to “go save the 101” hostages remaining in Gaza. “There are thousands and thousands of people suffering in Gaza. Some of them have lived there for many years and some of them have lived there for 374 days and it’s time to bring them home,” she told Cooper.

Goldberg-Polin’s parents have been among the most vocal of the hostage families pushing Netanyahu to seek a deal securing their relatives’ return. They’ve also regularly met top US officials in Washington to press the case of the hostages.

Goldberg-Polin was among the hundreds of young people who attended the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7, the day Hamas launched its surprise attacks in which more than 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

He and some of his friends hid in a bomb shelter but became trapped by militants who began to lob grenades into the bunker. Goldberg-Polin helped to throw some of those grenades back out of the shelter before his left arm was blown off from the elbow down, according to a firsthand account from one of his friends.

Footage taken on the day of that attack showed Goldberg-Polin being marched out of the shelter – with his hand blown off and bone protruding from his wrist – and thrown along with four others into the back of a truck.

His parents told Cooper that Goldberg-Polin and the others had later been held in a tunnel 65 feet (20 meters) underground that was just 2 feet wide and 5-and-a-half feet high – too small for the 6ft tall Goldberg-Polin to stand in. They were also severely malnourished. By the time of his death, Goldberg-Polin weighed just 115 pounds (52 kilograms), his father said.

They also shared details of his final moments, saying it appeared he had used his remaining hand in an attempt to shield himself.

“It seems that when he was being shot he had put up as a defense both of his arms, so a bullet went through his right hand through his shoulder actually then into his neck then out the side of his head,” Goldberg said.

“Supposedly he was standing crouched up … they think that then he dropped to his knees and then he was shot with the gun on his head, the back of his head … and he was found on his knees two days later.”

Still possible to ‘choose life’

Receiving the news on August 31 that their son was among the six dead hostages found by the Israeli military was “a crushing blow and we are still grappling with it,” Polin said.

He said the couple had spent “so much time beyond our public campaign in our apartment with our two daughters literally planning what it was going to be when we brought him home. What would the family look like? What would the celebration look like?”

“It’s crushing to spend those days so optimistic, so hopeful, so focused to have it end like this,” Polin said, adding they had wondered if their hope had worked against them.

“Maybe our optimism was something that drove influencers to lack urgency, to feel like, he’s going to come home at some point somehow and … maybe it was too infectious,” Polin said.

Goldberg added: “I’m just trying to get through each day. We are in the first centimeter in a million-mile journey of how do we get through the rest of our lives yearning and missing our son.”

Born in Oakland, California, Goldberg-Polin immigrated to Israel with his family at age 7. An elder brother to two sisters, he was a “happy-go-lucky, laid back, good humored, respectful and curious person” who loved soccer and music, according to his mother.

She later said the family was determined to “live” and “not just exist” following his death.

“I want to live the life that Hersh should’ve lived and that’s a life filled with love and happiness and light. We will always have this deep void but I think that it’s still possible to have that void and to be happy and choose life.”