Hostage’s mother Rachel Goldberg doubts report of US-Hamas deal, will ask Blinken about it

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Rachel Goldberg, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin has been held hostage by Hamas since October 7, poses for a photo next to a poster of her son during an interview in Jerusalem on May 29, 2024. The number 236 that Rachel Goldberg-Polin taped above her heart marks the number of days her son Hersh had been held hostage in Gaza when she met AFP at her Jerusalem office. (Photo by Ahikam Seri/AFP)
Rachel Goldberg, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin has been held hostage by Hamas since October 7, poses for a photo next to a poster of her son during an interview in Jerusalem on May 29, 2024. The number 236 that Rachel Goldberg-Polin taped above her heart marks the number of days her son Hersh had been held hostage in Gaza when she met AFP at her Jerusalem office. (Photo by Ahikam Seri/AFP)

Rachel Goldberg, mother of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, says she hasn’t heard anything concrete from US President Joe Biden’s administration regarding an NBC News report that Washington is considering conducting a deal with Hamas to free the five remaining American hostages believed to be held alive in Gaza.

The five are Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra, Keith Siegel and Goldberg-Polin.

“After 248 days, I don’t believe anything I read,” Goldberg tells The Times of Israel. “Is this a case of ‘Let’s make some news?'”

Goldberg says that she, her husband Jon Polin and the other families of US citizens held in Gaza are meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

“We’re going to wait until then and ask him,” she says. “My understanding is that from the get-go, the Americans felt very strongly that they wanted to help facilitate a huge deal with everybody getting out.” She says her interpretation of this is that “if a big comprehensive deal cannot happen, if the two parties are not willing to do what it takes, the second choice is the US talking about their people.”

The one bright point in the last days was the rescue of the four hostages from Gaza by Israeli forces on Saturday, says Goldberg, adding there was a tense of “total elation” among the hostage families.

Goldberg says she and her husband said they hadn’t felt that sense of happiness since hostages Fernando Marman and Louis Har were rescued in February.

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