Biden says he is 'devastated and outraged' by death of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin

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Following the Sunday morning announcement that 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were killed by Hamas in Gaza, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement responding to the tragic news.

“I am devastated and outraged,” Biden stated. “Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel on October 7. He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’ savage massacre.”

Biden noted that he has “gotten to know [Hersh’s] parents, Jon and Rachel,” and praised them for being “courageous, wise and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable…I admire them and grieve with them more deeply than words can express.”

Hersh’s parents gave a speech during the Democratic National Convention in August, in which Jon stated: “This is a political convention, but needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue.”

Referring to Jon and Rachel, Biden said: “All Americans tonight will have them in their prayers, just as Jill and I will," and promised that “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.”

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris also released a statement on Goldberg-Polin's death, saying: “Hamas has even more American blood on its hands. I strongly condemn Hamas’ continued brutality, and so must the entire world.”

Harris said that not only have Americans and Israelis been victims of the many atrocities committed by the “evil terrorist organization,” but that “the Palestinian people too have suffered under Hamas’ rule for nearly two decades.”

“President Biden and I will never waver in our commitment to free the Americans and all those held hostage in Gaza,” the statement concluded.

In addition to Goldberg-Polin, the IDF confirmed that the bodies of five other hostages had been recovered: Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino.

An IDF spokesman stated: “According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them.”