Twin Cities Jewish community gathers to mourn hostage deaths
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Members of the Twin Cities Jewish community gathered in St. Louis Park Wednesday night to mourn the six hostages who were found dead in Gaza Sunday.
The military said they were killed shortly before Israeli forces were to rescue them, and that the bodies were found in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Five of the hostages had been taken from a music festival during a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people. That includes Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, whose parents had led a high-profile campaign for the captives’ release.
“Our own community is just one degree separated from the Goldberg-Polin family,” said Jewish Community Relations Council spokesperson Sami Rahamim in a press release. “Rabbi Rob Kahn, a former senior rabbi of Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, and his family are dear family friends of the Goldberg-Polins and belong to the same congregation in Jerusalem.”
The army identified the other hostages as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40. It believes 101 hostages remain in Gaza, including 35 who are thought to be dead.
On the athletic fields near the JCC Sabes Center, dozens gathered and embraced as they listened to clergy, songs and prayers of mourning and solidarity.
The somber event follows mass protests in Israel, where news of the hostages’ deaths renewed calls for a cease-fire in the war that has killed more than 40,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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