A vigil was held Sunday night in Culver Metropolis simply hours after Israeli authorities shared the information that six hostages had been killed by Hamas after almost a 12 months in captivity.
One of many slain hostages was 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a California-born man whose dad and mom spoke on the Democratic Nationwide Conference final month and who has grow to be broadly recognized within the wake of the terrorist assaults.
Sunday evening’s vigil was held on the website of a memorial exhibit devoted to the Oct. 7 bloodbath in Israel. The memorial, in a 50,000-square-foot industrial occasion area, opened Aug. 17.
Shortly earlier than the occasion, Scooter Braun, a music government and the principle organizer of the memorial service, instructed The Instances that after the killings, the choice was made to carry the vigil amid the exhibit, which re-creates the assault on the Nova music pageant in Israel.
By 6 p.m. Sunday, a number of hundred folks had gathered. Many wore a bit of tape on their chests with the quantity 331, to suggest the variety of days because the hostages had been taken. The service was held in part of the exhibit referred to as the “therapeutic room.”
Braun mentioned the exhibit was impressed by tales instructed by survivors of the music pageant.
“It has nothing to do with politics. You gained’t see any flags right here,” Braun mentioned. “It’s strictly concerning the music pageant and what passed off there. To permit folks to see this might’ve been Coachella, this might’ve been Stagecoach.”
Music government Scooter Braun speaks at a vigil on the Nova exhibit on Sept. 1, 2024, in Culver Metropolis. The vigil was held to honor the six hostages seized Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel who had been killed lately by Hamas militants.
(Eric Thayer / For The Instances)
Many of the lately slain hostages had attended the Oct. 7 Nova music pageant.
Israeli officers confirmed Sunday morning that the our bodies of the six hostages, together with Goldberg-Polin, had been present in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah. Authorities discovered their our bodies Saturday evening, and an post-mortem revealed that 4 males and two ladies died someday Thursday or Friday from gunshot wounds.
Talking on the Democratic conference in Chicago on Aug. 21, Rachel Goldberg mentioned her son, whom she described as a fan of music and journey, attended the pageant in Israel’s Negev desert together with his finest pal to have fun Goldberg-Polin’s birthday.
Goldberg stood alongside her husband, Jon Polin, throughout a tearful speech. The dad and mom, who’ve met with quite a few political leaders within the months since their son’s abduction, spoke on the conference almost two weeks earlier than information broke of his dying.
She went on to explain the horrific sequence of occasions that unfolded the morning of Oct. 7, and mentioned that Goldberg-Polin and his pal, together with 27 different festival-goers, hid in a 5-by-8-foot bomb shelter as militants threw grenades into the shelter. Goldberg-Polin was taken into captivity. His pal, Goldberg mentioned, heroically deflected eight grenades till he was killed by a ninth one.
Individuals attend a vigil on the Nova Exhibition on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The vigil was held to honor the six hostages who had been taken October 7, 2023 and had been killed by Hamas. (Eric Thayer / For The Instances)
A view from the vigil on the Nova Exhibition held on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Instances)
“Hersh’s left forearm, his dominant arm, was blown off earlier than he was loaded onto a pickup truck and stolen from his life,” his mom mentioned.
“At this second, 109 treasured human beings are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza,” she mentioned. “Among the many hostages are eight Americans. A kind of People is our solely son.”
The opposite hostages who had been killed, along with Goldberg-Polin, who was the one U.S. citizen amongst them, had been recognized by the Israeli army as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.
In a preliminary evaluation, the Israeli army mentioned all six had been killed “shortly” earlier than troops arrived to rescue them.
On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian militants executed a number of assaults all through Israel, together with on the music pageant, the place 364 attendees had been killed and about 250 people had been taken hostage. About half of these hostages had been freed in a hostage-prisoner swap final 12 months. In whole, 1,200 Israelis had been killed, together with at the very least 42 People.
Since these assaults, Israel retaliated with an aerial bombardment of Gaza, a densely populated space of land, and with floor troops, waging a conflict that has since killed greater than 40,000 Palestinians, in accordance with Gaza well being officers.
Individuals attend a vigil on the Nova exhibit on Sept. 1, 2024, in Culver Metropolis. The exhibit, which commemorates the Oct. 7, 2023, assault by Hamas militants, was impressed by tales instructed by survivors of the music pageant in Israel.
(Eric Thayer / For The Instances)
