London: Tributes poured in Sunday for the six hostages who were found dead in southern Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The hostages, who the Israeli military said had been “brutally murdered” by Hamas, ranged in age from 23 to 40. Five had been at a dance music festival in southern Israel when they were taken captive during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and its allies; a sixth was taken from the village of Be’eri.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group of their relatives, identified the dead as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino. It also provided ages.
More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 other hostages believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Here is what we know about the six whose deaths were confirmed on Sunday.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23
Goldberg-Polin was a dual Israeli American citizen who was taken hostage from the festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7. His mother, Rachel Goldberg, had traveled the world since, advocating the release of the hostages.
“Hersh is a happy-go-lucky, laid-back, good-humored, respectful and curious person,” she said last month when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention with her husband, Jon Polin.
“He is a civilian,” she added. “He loves soccer, is wild about music and music festivals, and he has been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little boy.”
Goldberg-Polin was born in Berkeley, California. His family moved to Israel when he was in elementary school. Grievously injured during the attack, Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm and was last seen in a video released by Hamas in April.
President Joe Biden was among those who expressed condolences to Goldberg-Polin’s family. “I am devastated and outraged,” Biden said in a statement, adding, “He planned to travel the world.”
Carmel Gat, 40
Gat lived in Tel Aviv, Israel, but was staying at her parents’ house in Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border, when she was taken hostage on Oct. 7. Her mother, Kinneret, was killed in the attacks.
“Carmel was an occupational therapist, full of compassion and love, always finding ways to support and help others,” the forum wrote in a post on the social network X. “She loved solo travel, meeting new people, live rock music concerts, and was particularly fond of Radiohead.”
Haaretz published a profile of Gat in January that said her closest friends had been holding regular yoga classes in her honor in Tel Aviv in what has become known as “Hostage Square.” They also created a Spotify playlist of her favorite songs, Haaretz reported, calling it “a humorous, eclectic mix.”
“I remember us coming back to the kibbutz on weekends, putting music on and dancing,” Adi Zohar, a classmate, told the news outlet. “That’s her. Making a party out of things. Taking it easy.”
On Sunday, a cousin, Gil Dickmann, posted a photograph on X of a young Gat, wearing a pink shirt and holding a young baby, grinning at the camera. “Sorry Carmeli,” he wrote, adding, “If only you saw how your friends fought to get you back alive.”
Alexander Lobanov, 32
Lobanov, who went by Alex, lived in the southern Israeli city of Ashqelon, according to the forum.
It said that he was working as a bar manager at the festival when the attack began and that witnesses said Lobanov helped evacuate people.
He and his wife, Michal, had two children: Tom, who is 2, and Kai, who is 5 months old and was born when Lobanov was in captivity in Gaza, Haaretz reported.
Lobanov also held Russian citizenship, according to Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov.
“We mourn together with the entire family,” he said in a statement.
Ori Danino, 25
Ori Danino was from Jerusalem and was planning to study electrical engineering, Haaretz reported.
The oldest of five children, Danino had escaped the music festival but had gone back to help other people when he was captured, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X.
“He was a fighter,” his partner, Liel Avraham, said on Israeli radio after learning of his death, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday. She called him a “hero” who “excelled in everything he did.”
Avraham had posted about Danino on social media during his captivity. On April 7, she shared a picture of him kissing her on Instagram and in the caption teased him for losing to her at backgammon and for letting his morning alarm ring.
Four weeks ago, she posted a photo of the two of them with the caption: “I’m waiting for you.”
Almog Sarusi, 27
Sarusi was from Ra’anana, a city north of Tel Aviv, according to Haaretz. It said he was at the music festival with his longtime girlfriend and had stayed by her side after she was wounded in the attack.
She died, and he was captured.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum described him on X as “a vibrant, positive person who loved traveling around Israel in his white jeep with his guitar.”
Eden Yerushalmi, 24
Yerushalmi was “a vibrant young woman with many friends and hobbies,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X. “Eden loved spending summer days at the beach playing paddleball, attending parties, and was studying to become a Pilates instructor.”
In November, Yerushalmi’s sisters lit candles for her in New York City at the grave site of a major spiritual leader in Judaism. They giggled at the time, trying to explain her nickname — Opossum — an old inside joke the sisters could no longer recall. Relatives of Yerushalmi had also traveled to Paris and Washington to press for the release of the hostages.
In a video posted in April, Yerushalmi’s sisters said she was a waitress in Tel Aviv who loved to make TikTok videos, rode a motorcycle and was “always the life of the party.”
“She’s very friendly,” they said in another video, posted in July. “She lives life to the fullest.”