Days earlier, hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel, was rescued about a kilometre away, Israel’s Hagari said.

After Alkadi was located, troops were told to be cautious because other hostages might be in the area, but there had been no precise information on their location, he said.

The six recovered bodies were from about 250 hostages taken in Hamas’ killing spree through southern Israel on October 7 that sparked the war in Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed in the assault, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, at least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Goldberg-Polin, captured at a music festival near Gaza, appeared in a video released by Hamas in late April.

“He had just turned 23. He planned to travel the world,” Biden said. His parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, “have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” he said.

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“They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions. I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express,” the president said.

Biden vowed that “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement: “I strongly condemn Hamas’ continued brutality, and so must the entire world.” Harris said she would never waver on working to free all those held hostage in Gaza.

Earlier, speaking to reporters in Delaware, Biden said he was “still optimistic” about a ceasefire deal to stop the conflict.“I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement,” he said. “It’s time this war ended.”

Reuters.