Horrifying footage shows Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin after Hamas terrorist blew off his arm and then bundled him into the back of a truck – as heartbroken dad says ‘we have no proof of life’
Gruesome images have emerged of kidnapped Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin being loaded into the back of a pickup truck moments after Hamas terrorists blew off his left arm.
At gunpoint, Goldberg-Polin and several other young men were piled into the back of a vehicle. They are shown pulling themselves into the truck, including Hersh, who acted calmly despite his catastrophic injury.
On Wednesday, Hersh’s father, Jon Polin, said he and his wife have “no proof of life” for their son. For now, the Israeli government still lists the young man as “a hostage, as held hostage by Hamas.”
In the video, Goldberg-Polin’s bloody left leg was seen sticking out as he lifted himself into the truck around 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 7, at the Tribe of Nova music festival in southern Israel.
The footage, initially discovered by Anderson Cooper’s team at CNN, showed several Palestinian terrorists dragging three other young men into the truck with Goldberg-Polin, the latter of whom was thrown on top of the three wounded men.
Hersh and several other young men were loaded at gunpoint into the back of a Hamas pickup truck. Blood covered each of their bodies
Cooper, along with the parents of the missing young man, confirmed that the images were in fact from Goldberg-Polin.
‘As terrible as it is as a parent to see your child at gunpoint, with one arm… the calmness with which he walks on his own two feet and pulls himself onto the truck with his one weak hand gave me a real dose of strength, said Jon Polin, Hersh’s father.
The young man’s mother, Rachel Goldberg, said she believed her son’s calm demeanor was “out of shock.”
More than two weeks after their son was taken along with at least two hundred other hostages, his parents remain determined to bring their son home.
The couple flew to Manhattan this week to talk to the United Nations about bringing their son and the other hostages home.
“Personally, I feel like we have to keep running to the ends of the earth to save him,” his mother told Cooper.
“And we have to try to continue to believe that he somehow got treatment and… that he is alive and there,” she added.
The couple said they have moments of doubt, with thoughts creeping in, such as wondering whether he “bled to death on that truck.”
“Maybe he died yesterday, maybe he died five minutes ago,” Goldberg said.
“We don’t know if, after being loaded into the pickup truck at 9 a.m. on October 7, he was thrown out of the truck after 30 seconds, or if he reached Gaza where his phone was last pinged. We do not know his status, but officially he is still listed as ‘kidnapped,'” Polin said in an email separate interview.
Goldberg (right) described their current emotional situation as “sitting on the head of a pin.” “Any direction you fall is a bad direction. So we’re just trying to balance on the head of a pin,” she said
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father: “I love you guys. I’m sorry’ at 8:11 a.m. on October 7 – as Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, taking dozens of people hostage and killing hundreds during the Jewish High Day
The gruesome footage shows Hersh climbing into the back of a Hamas pickup shortly after his left arm was blown off.
The couple has repeatedly called on international leaders to advocate for their son and the other hostages.
In the US, “the support is there,” Polin said. ‘But we want more, we want action.’
‘There are hostages from about thirty countries. Why haven’t we seen yet… world leaders crying out for help for the wounded?’
Goldberg described their current emotional situation as being “on the head of a pin.”
“Any direction you fall is a bad direction. So we’re just trying to balance on the head of a pin,” she said.
During an appearance on Fox, Polin said his current goal is to convince the world that the Gaza hostage crisis is a “global humanitarian catastrophe, and that the entire world and foreign ministers everywhere should be clamoring to get these people out.” get and not do that. politicize them.”
On the morning of October 7, Goldberg-Polin sent a text message to his mother and father that read, “I love you guys, I’m sorry.”
Born in Berkeley, California, Hersh moved to Jerusalem with his family when he was just eight years old. He had attended the Tribe of Nova music festival to celebrate the end of his Israeli military service.
Until April he was a tank driver with the 7th Armored Brigade and trained as a medic.
His father, Jonathan, and mother, Rachel, said their son had been working as a waiter and was saving money to finance a trip to India, which was his lifelong dream.
Now his mother says she and the rest of Hersh’s family remain hopeful he will come home and make the trip to India “one-handed.”