'We failed you, we all failed you'

Tens of thousands pay their respects to slain Gaza hostage

- MELANIE LIDMAN

Jonathan Polin, right, father of U.S.-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose body was recovered Sunday with five other captives in Gaza, attends his son's funeral in Jerusalem on Monday.

An Israeli-American family that became an international symbol in the struggle to free hostages from Hamas captivity in Gaza laid their son to rest on Monday after the discovery of his body and those of five others brought a fresh outpouring of grief.

Tens of thousands of people thronged a Jerusalem cemetery to pay their respects to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who became one of the most recognizable faces of the nearly year-old hostage crisis. Hundreds of others lined a major thoroughfare in Jerusalem, holding Israeli flags.

Many sobbed as his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, said goodbye to her son and told him, “My sweet boy, finally, finally, finally you are free!”