By Claudia Aoraha, Senior Reporter for Dailymail.Com, 4:07 p.m. Oct 8, 2023, updated 6:04 p.m. Oct 8, 2023
- California-born Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father: “I love you. I’m sorry” at 8:11 a.m. Saturday – shortly after Hamas launched its attack
- Golberg-Polin had taken part in a nighttime “nature party” near Kibbutz Re’im – not far from the Gaza Strip. His parents don’t know where he is
An American sent a chilling text message to his parents while attending a desert party in Israel – just before Hamas terrorists launched their brutal surprise attack.
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father “I love you, I’m sorry” at 8:11 a.m. Saturday — as callous Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, taking dozens of people hostage and killing hundreds during the Jewish highs killed vacation.
Hersh was born in Berkeley, California and moved to Jerusalem with his family when he was just seven years old.
His family has no idea where he is – and now fears for his life after he spent the evening at the desert party near the Gaza Strip that was infiltrated and attacked by Palestinian terrorists.
Militant Hamas carried out the unprecedented multi-front attack on Israel at dawn on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of fighters bombarded the heavily fortified border in several locations.
Jonathan Polin, Hersh’s father, told The Jerusalem Post: “We just want him home and safe.” We love you. Come to our house.’
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father: “I love you.” I’m sorry” at 8:11 a.m. Saturday — as Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, taking dozens of people hostage and killing hundreds during the Jewish High Holiday. Born in Berkeley, California, Hersh and his family moved to Jerusalem when he was just seven years old: Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers launched an unprecedented multi-front attack on Israel at dawn on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets while dozens Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations
The 23-year-old celebrated the end of his military service. Until April he was a tank driver in the 7th Armored Brigade and had completed training as a medic.
His father Jonathan and mother Rachel said their son worked as a waiter and saved money to finance a trip to India that had been his lifelong dream.
The worried parents last saw their son at 11 p.m. the evening before the attacks began.
He had attended the Simhat Torah holiday service with them at their local synagogue in Jerusalem – before having dinner with them to celebrate the religious event.
His father, Jonathan, of Chicago, Illinois, said: “He had a backpack and left around 11 a.m. to join his friend.”
Golberg-Polin had taken part in a nighttime “nature party” near Kibbutz Re’im – not far from the Gaza Strip. The young man loved music festivals and football, his father said.
Clips showed partygoers fleeing for their lives when they realized the event was being attacked by terrorists. Many were captured and taken to Gaza as hostages.
Jonathon Polin, Hersh Golberg-Polin’s father. At 8:11 a.m. he received a text message from his son that said, “I love you, I’m sorry.”
According to a handwritten list engraved with the names of those attending the party, there were two places where the 23-year-old may have fled: Yishuv Saad and Ofakim.
But his frightened parents said: “He hasn’t been to any of those places.”
Due to the precarious situation and deadly attacks from both sides, it is too dangerous for the parents to drive down themselves to find their son.
Jonathan said, “You.” [police] I think there are still a lot of people hiding in the area.
“Every time we hear information, we do everything we can to find out something.” “There is very little we can actually do.”
Many of Golberg-Polin’s family, including aunts, uncles and cousins, still live in Illinois.
His aunt Abby wrote on social media Sunday: “Praying for the safe return of my nephew Hersh Goldberg Polin and everyone in Israel.”
More than 600 Israelis have now been killed and thousands more injured after an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Sunday morning.
The Jewish nation is now raining fire on militants in the Gaza Strip in a ruthless counteroffensive in the south, while also shelling Lebanon with artillery in the north.
On the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, the Middle Eastern country’s warplanes bombed densely populated Gaza City in retaliatory strikes.
Fire and smoke rise after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Hersh Golberg-Polin has lived in Israel since she was seven. He was born in California. An Israeli soldier controls a self-propelled howitzer near the southern city of Ashkelon. Attendees at an outdoor party near Kibbutz Urim — the same one where Hersh Golberg-Polin was attending — flee for their lives after hearing gunshots
According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Hamas militants have also captured an unknown number of civilians and soldiers in Gaza – including several US citizens.
Yesterday, brazen Hamas fighters knocked on the doors of residents expecting to find Israeli soldiers trying to reassure them about air raid sirens.
Instead, the violence unleashed one of the worst atrocities Israel has seen in decades.
Innocent mothers with children, settlers and even frail elderly people became the “spoils of war” of the masked terrorists who abducted them at gunpoint.
Their actions – which horrified the international community – brought back grim memories of masked Islamic State terrorists in Syria parading hostages on social media before executing them.
But a Hamas leader hinted to the world that these hostages, who numbered well over 50 last night, would not be killed but would be used as human bargaining chips for the release of their own prisoners in Israeli prisons.
A terrorism expert added that the captured Israelis could even be used as human shields to stop the Israeli Air Force – which began attacking Gaza yesterday – from blowing up certain targets.
Chilling footage on social media showed terrified hostages being taken into Gaza by Hamas militants, chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as they led them away.
A pro-Palestine rally is planned for Sunday shortly after noon in New York. The state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, condemned the protest.
Protesters are expected to take over Times Square – the social and cultural epicenter of New York – the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.
This morning it was revealed that the daughter and son-in-law of a Boston college professor were among the victims killed in Israel following a series of violent Hamas attacks.
Professor Ilan Troen, 83, recently retired from his position at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and moved to Israel to be with his family.
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon. Sitting on a terrorist’s motorcycle, captured Israeli woman Noa Argamani pleaded for her life and shouted, “Don’t kill me!” Israeli civilians were reportedly taken off the streets and driven back into Gaza
The Boston-born academic recalled how his daughter and son-in-law were killed by Gaza gunmen on Saturday – and how the two managed to save their teenage son by throwing their bodies over him.
The family was together in a safe room in their home when Hamas fighters broke in.
The little boy, Troen’s grandson, was shot in the stomach and is in the hospital.
Troen taught Israeli studies at the private school after studying there himself as an undergraduate before earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago.
In his speech on Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a strong warning to Hamas fighters: “I say to Hamas: You are responsible for the well-being of the prisoners. Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them.”
He vowed to defeat the group but said the war would “take time” and continued: “What happened today has never happened before in Israel, we will take powerful revenge for this black day.”
He vowed “mighty revenge” and vowed to reduce Gaza to “rubble” and called on innocent Palestinians to leave the country immediately.
Shortly afterwards, it was reported that an armored truck was heading towards the Gaza border.
Late Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman said the situation in the south of the country was “still not fully under control.”