Parents hope for US deal to release son from Hamas

STORY: Parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin – kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7th attack – told Reuters on Monday that they support any measures necessary for his release.

They spoke as NBC News reported that U.S. officials are considering negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas militants to secure the release of five American hostages held in Gaza.

“We hear rumors today that the United States is negotiating something or might. I would not be surprised if either at the same time or soon thereafter we hear about Germany and Argentina and so many of the other countries whose citizens are also being held. Whatever it takes to get everybody home we support.”

Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, have been campaigning for their son’s release, along with the release of 120 others still held in Gaza, after over 100 hostages were released in a deal in November last year and 7 more were rescued in Israeli army operations.

In the latest such operation on Saturday (June 8), Israeli forces were able to rescue four hostages from a densely populated area in Gaza. Hamas says over 200 Palestinians were killed during the operation.

The Polins spoke to Reuters in Jersualem about the moment that news broke about that rescue.

“It was just so miraculous and we were so excited. You know, we know two of those families fairly well through the last eight months. And every hostage is a win. It’s a celebration of life. And we were relieved for them to be reunited, especially we knew Noa Argamini’s mom was in such dire condition and we’ve been praying for her to be able to see her daughter. So we were elated.”

She added more needed to be done:

“120 people to still be in captivity is absolutely unacceptable. And I think that the leaders have to put politics aside and egos aside and do the right thing by these people and by all the people who are suffering in the region.

The United States says Hamas is holding five Americans who were taken hostage in the group’s deadly Oct. 7 incursion inside Israel.

Officials are hoping to recover the bodies of three other Americans who were killed that day, NBC reported.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, a response to the incursion, has killed 37,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

When asked about the NBC report while he was leaving Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the latest U.S. proposal for a ceasefire deal was quote, “the most effective way to get everyone home.”