Netanyahu’s Hernia Operation Was Successful, Hospital Says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, 07 January 2024 (reissued 31 March 2024). EPA/RONEN ZVULUN / POOL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, 07 January 2024 (reissued 31 March 2024). EPA/RONEN ZVULUN / POOL
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Netanyahu’s Hernia Operation Was Successful, Hospital Says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, 07 January 2024 (reissued 31 March 2024). EPA/RONEN ZVULUN / POOL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, 07 January 2024 (reissued 31 March 2024). EPA/RONEN ZVULUN / POOL

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was conscious and conversing with family on Monday after undergoing a successful hernia operation, the hospital treating him said.

Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem said Netanyahu was recovering, but did not immediately specify how long that might take.

Netanyahu was fitted with a pacemaker last July, while Israel was ensnared in its worst domestic crisis in decades, with widespread protests against his hard-right government's judicial overhaul plan.

Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October.

Protesters urged the government to reach a ceasefire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and to hold early elections.

Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home, yet those goals have been elusive. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, it remains intact.



Biden Says Israel Recovers Bodies of 6 Hostages in Gaza, Including Goldberg-Polin

(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)
(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)
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Biden Says Israel Recovers Bodies of 6 Hostages in Gaza, Including Goldberg-Polin

(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)
(FILES) An image grab from a video released by the media office of the Palestinian group Hamas on April 24, 2024, shows an Israeli-American man who identified himself as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, one of the hostages abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, speaking to a camera. (Photo by Hamas Media Office / various sources / AFP)

Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including that of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, US President Joe Biden said late on Saturday.
"Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. "I am devastated and outraged."
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino had been brought to Israel.
Hamas and its armed wing did not immediately comment on the accusations, Reuters said.
At least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, the enclave's health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The war was triggered when Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
On Saturday, clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin. Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
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," Biden 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."