Biden, Harris to meet with US hostage deal negotiating team in Situation Room

President Biden and Vice President Harris plan to meet Monday in the White House Situation Room with the American hostage deal negotiating team following the killing of six hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, by Hamas on Saturday.

The White House said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss efforts to reach an agreement that would secure the release of the remaining hostages. The meeting is also closed to the press.

Crowds of protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities on Sunday after the bodies of Gaza hostages were returned to Israel, fueling frustration and anger at the country's leaders for their failure to reach a ceasefire deal to free the remaining hostages.

Israeli media reported that protesters were estimated at 500,000 in major Israeli cities. Many protesters demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to repatriate the remaining 101 hostages.

ISRAEL'S LARGEST UNION PLANS MASSIVE STRIKE AFTER RECOVERY OF BODIES OF SIX HOSTAGES

Protesters in Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 1, 2024, rally against the government and show support for hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. (Reuters/Florion Goga)

Israeli officials estimate that nearly a third of the remaining hostages are dead, according to Reuters.

As protests remained strong on Sunday, union leaders called on workers to take part in a one-day strike on Monday.

“We are getting body bags instead of an agreement,” Arnon Bar-David, head of the Histadrut trade union federation, told reporters on Sunday, according to Reuters. “We need to reach an agreement. An agreement is more important than anything else.”

American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were brutally murdered by Hamas just before their rescue, IDF says

Law enforcement officers arrest a protester during an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, Israel, September 1, 2024. (Reuters/Florion Goga)

The Histadrut Labor Federation is Israel's main union, representing hundreds of thousands of workers. Bar-David's call for a one-day strike was supported by the country's manufacturers and technology entrepreneurs.

The Israeli military announced that the bodies of hostages Carmel Gat, 40, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino, 25, were found in a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

A polio vaccination campaign has begun in the war-torn Gaza Strip, sparking violence in the occupied West Bank.

ISRAEL RECOVERS 6 HOSTAGES WHO DIED IN 'COMPLEX RESCUE OPERATION', SAYS BODIES HELD UNDER HUMANITARIAN ZONE

Police use a water cannon during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, September 1, 2024. (Reuters/Tomer Appelbaum)

The bodies of the six hostages have since been returned to Israel, according to military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

An Israeli Health Ministry spokesman said a forensic analysis of the bodies determined that the hostages had been “assassinated by Hamas terrorists with multiple gunshots at close range” 48 to 72 hours earlier.

Netanyahu deplores the death of six hostages found in Gaza and promises to “settle scores” with Hamas

Protesters block a main road in Tel Aviv, Israel, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, September 1, 2024. (Reuters/Florion Goga)

After hearing the news, protesters blocked streets in Jerusalem and staged a demonstration in front of Netanyahu's residence. In Tel Aviv, protesters blocked the main highway while waving flags with images of the murdered hostages.

During the protests, police reportedly arrested about two dozen Israelis across the country, Reuters reported.

DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS ISRAEL MUST 'BROADEN OBJECTIVES' OF WAR TO DRIVE RESIDENTS BACK TO NORTH

Protesters gather in Tel Aviv after the bodies of six hostages are returned to Israel on September 1, 2024. (Reuters/Florion Goga)

After the hostages' bodies were recovered, Netanyahu said in a statement that he was “deeply shocked” by the killings.

“Whoever kills the kidnapped people does not want a deal. We are living in difficult times. The heart of the entire nation has been torn apart,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli security forces evacuate a person during a protest outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on September 1, 2024. (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

“Like all citizens of Israel, I was deeply shocked by the terrible, cold-blooded murder of six of our kidnapped people.”

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The war has raging in the Middle East Since October 7, when Hamas launched a series of attacks on Israel, prompting Israel to declare war shortly thereafter. An estimated 257 Israeli hostages were stranded in Gaza at the start of the war, and 101 hostages remain in Gaza. Of the remaining 101 hostages, 66 are believed to be alive, including four U.S. citizens.

Fox News Digital's Landon Mion, Emma Colton and Reuters contributed to this report.