The six hostages whose bodies were found Saturday in a tunnel underneath Gaza — including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin — were discovered in Rafah, the city that Vice President Kamala Harris told Israel not to enter.
In February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was prepared to enter Rafah, a key town on the Gaza-Egypt border where Hamas leaders were thought to be hiding and holding some of the Israeli hostages.
Kamala Harris, echoing the Biden administration’s warnings, told Israel not to enter Rafah, saying that there could be many Palestinian civilians killed, and warning of possible “consequences,” hinting that the U.S. would withhold weapons.
Israel decided that it was necessary to enter Rafah. With minimal civilian casualties, Israel has killed hundreds of terrorists in Rafah — though the leaders are thought to have moved elsewhere within the Gaza Strip. It has also rescued one hostage and recovered the bodies of several others — including Goldberg-Polin and five others.
Israel also established control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a key strategic road along the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have found and destroyed tunnels that Hamas had used to smuggle weapons and other materials into Gaza.
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Sunday that the six hostges had been murdered cruelly by Hamas as Israeli soldiers closed in on their location, possibly based on intelligence provided by a hostage rescued last week.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
