Captive Polin Appeals to Biden Before Bombing

The Hamas Qassam Brigades broadcast a recording, Thursday, 5 September, 2024, of an Israeli prisoner with American citizenship, who was killed by the occupation army and whose body and five  other prisoners were recovered last Saturday inside a tunnel in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

In the recording, slain prisoner Hersh Goldberg-Polin asked US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and all American citizens to do everything they can to “stop the war and this madness and bring him home.”

He pointed out he became 23 years old just four days before his arrest at a concert in the Re’im area in the so-called “Gaza enveloped” on 7 October, 2023.

He highlighted the extent of the suffering he is experiencing in Gaza and said he does not remember the last time he saw the sun or breathed fresh air, but he stressed what is worse is the Israeli [government] attempt to bomb him without stopping “so it wouldn’t not bear responsibility and reach an agreement.”

Born in California

Goldberg-Polin, who was born in California and lives in occupied Jerusalem, said that since his arrival in Gaza, he has been trying to stay alive without any medical assistance, with little food and water.

He sent an emotional message to his family, stressing he knows they are doing everything they can to bring him home, and asked his family to stay strong for him.

Last April, the Qassam Brigades published a video recording of the prisoner Goldberg-Polin, in which he attacked the Netanyahu government and accused it of negligence and failure to work to release him and the rest of the detainees.

On 13 May, the Qassam Brigades announced it had lost contact with a group of resistance fighters guarding four Israeli prisoners in Gaza, including Goldberg-Polin, due to the Israeli bombing of the Strip.

Since last Monday, the Qassam Brigades began broadcasting the last messages of the six Israeli prisoners, starting with the prisoner Idan Yerushalmi, then Ori Danino, before broadcasting – Wednesday – a recording of the prisoners Alexander Lubnov and Carmel Gat.

All the recordings hold the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu and the security and military services responsible for what happened on 7 October, 2023, and all the captives demanded the speeding up of an exchange deal and for the popular demonstrations demanding their return continue so that they could return home alive.

Last Sunday, Al-Qassam broadcast a message to Israeli society stating that “Netanyahu chose the Philadelphi Corridor at the expense of liberating your prisoners,” noting that these captives were alive but have become a thing of the past, whilst stressing Netanyahu is creating dozens of Ron Arads.

On 23 April, the Brigades’ spokesman Abu Obeida said that the “the Ron Arad scenario may be the most likely to be repeated with the enemy’s prisoners in Gaza,” stressing that “the so-called military pressure will only push us to stand firm in our positions and preserve the rights of our people and not relinquish them,” according to JO24.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Expressing appreciation for both parties’ cooperation, Albusaidi said: “The Sultanate of Oman expresses its gratitude to both parties for their constructive approach that led to this welcome outcome, and hopes that it will lead to further progress on many regional issues towards achieving justice, peace, and prosperity for all.”

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