Benjamin Netanyahu vows to ‘settle accounts’ with Hamas leaders after recovery of bodies of six hostages from Gaza Strip tunnel

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ‘settle accounts’ with Hamas leaders after six bodies of hostages were recovered from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.

“Together with the entire nation, my wife and I share the terrible grief of the families. We all mourn together with them,” he was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel.

“I say to the Hamas terrorists who murdered our abductees and I say to their leaders — your lives are now forfeit,” Netanyahu vowed.

The PM said: “We will not rest and we will not be silent. We will pursue you, we will catch up with you and we will settle accounts with you.”

The Israeli Defense Forces on Saturday said bodies of six hostages were recovered from a tunnel in Gaza.

“They were all taken hostage on October 7 and were murdered by the Hamas terrorist organization while in captivity in Gaza,” IDF said in a statement.

“The IDF and ISA send their heartfelt condolences to the families. Israeli security forces are operating with all means to bring home all the hostages as fast as possible,” the Israeli Defense Forces said.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement he was “devastated and outraged.”

Biden, who monitored the situation of the hostages seized on Oct. 7, said the six included Israeli American Goldberg-Polin.

UN chief Antonio Guterres described the development in Gaza as ‘tragic’.

Demanding immediate release of hostages and steps needed to end the war, Guterres said: ” I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families. Today’s tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.”

Senior Hamas official Izzat El-Reshiq said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire deal, was responsible for the deaths.

According to Israel’s Hagari, hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi from the Bedouin community in southern Israel, was rescued days earlier, about a kilometre away.

The six recovered bodies were among the 250 hostages taken during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

The assault resulted in around 1,200 deaths, according to Israeli reports.

Since then, the health ministry in Gaza has reported at least 40,691 Palestinians killed and 94,060 injured in Israel’s military counter-attack.