Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin who was kidnapped to Gaza and was murdered while in captivity, spoke on Thursday at a reception for diplomatic staff stationed in Israel on the occasion of Independence Day.
In her remarks, Goldberg-Polin provided harrowing and shocking details about her son’s time in captivity and about his murder.
Hersh was one of six hostages who were murdered in captivity and whose bodies were recovered from the Gaza Strip last August.
“My name is Rachel and I will always be the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin…the beautiful six, Eden, Ori, Elmog, Alex, Carmel, and Hersh, had been held in an airless pitch-black tunnel 20 meters underground. It was only a meter sixty in height and just 60 centimeters wide,” said Hersh’s mother in her remarks.
“There was no electricity nor plumbing. All of them were emaciated. Hersh, who was 1.85 meters tall, weighed 53 kilograms. Delightful Eden was 1.60 meters tall. She weighed just 35 kilograms. They were all bullet-ridden and filthy, having not showered in months.”
“Hersh was shot in his only hand. His other hand had been blown off on October 7th during his abduction. He was shot in his shoulder, his neck, the side of his head below his ear, and in the back of his head,” the mother said.
“He was found frozen on his knees with his face resting on the face of Eden, Eden, a girl named after Paradise. And since then, we have lived on another galaxy.”