US Democrats urge Israel-Hamas ceasefire after dead hostages recovered

Several US Democratic lawmakers renewed calls for an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire on Sunday in reaction to the killing of six hostages in a tunnel under Gaza, while Republicans criticised President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris for not giving stronger support to Israel.

Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza where they were apparently killed shortly before its troops reached them, triggering Israeli protests on Sunday and planned strikes over the failure to save them.

The military said the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was an Israeli-American citizen, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel.

Biden spoke to Goldberg-Polin's parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, who appeared at the Democratic National Convention last month, to offer condolences, a White House official said.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan held a virtual meeting on Sunday with the families of the American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Sullivan discussed the ongoing diplomatic push to drive towards a deal that secures the release of the remaining hostages, the White House said.

Democratic senator Dick Durbin said in a post on X  he was "heartbroken and devastated" by the news of Goldberg-Polin's death, echoing sentiments of other US officials and lawmakers.

"A ceasefire must be reached immediately that allows all remaining hostages to be released, humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, and an elusive and neglected long-term vision for peace and stability to become a reality," said Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui is another hostage with American citizenship, said the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to engage in negotiations with Hamas to bring hostages home and time was running out.

He said the "entire senior military establishment and intelligence community has been saying publicly and openly for weeks and months that the time has come to end the fighting in Gaza, get our hostages home, as many alive as possible," Dekel-Chen told the CBS Face the Nation programme. 

Republican lawmakers on Sunday did not urge a stronger push for ceasefire negotiations, with some blaming the Biden-Harris administration for not supporting Israel strongly enough.

"They continue to encourage and embolden Hamas" with calls for a ceasefire, said Republican senator Tom Cotton.

Asked what Netanyahu's government should do in the face of growing protests in Israel, Cotton said: "I would urge him to finish the job against Hamas, which is exactly what Kamala Harris and Joe Biden should have done from the very beginning."

In a statement released by the White House shortly before midnight on Saturday, Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, did not call for a ceasefire and condemned Hamas for the deaths.

"Hamas is an evil terrorist organisation. With the murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands. I strongly condemn Hamas' continued brutality, and so must the entire world," Harris said.

She later posted on X that she and her husband Doug Emhoff spoke to Goldberg-Polin's parents "to express our condolences after the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists".

Republican senator Lindsey Graham called for more pressure on Iran, Hamas' main sponsor, telling ABC's This Week that the Biden administration and Israel "should hold Iran accountable for the fate of remaining hostages and put on the target list oil refineries in Iran if the hostages are not released".

Reuters