Washington DC - President Joe Biden said Saturday that the body of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among six recovered in Gaza by Israeli forces.

"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.

"We have now confirmed that one of the hostages... was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin," the president added.

The 23-year-old was among 251 hostages seized during the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militants.

Donald Trump Team Trump assails Biden decision on missiles for Ukraine: "Everything has changed"

Around 100 hostages remain in captivity, dozens of whom the Israeli military says are dead.

The parents of Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from the Supernova music festival, addressed delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month and had been among those demanding a ceasefire deal that would lead to his release.

The other five hostages whose bodies were recovered were identified as Carmel Gat, who was taken from a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, and Alexander Lobanov.

Biden said he was "still optimistic" that a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal can be reached.

"It's time this war ended", the president, who has staunchly backed the Israeli war effort, told reporters.]

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has refused any deal that would lead to a permanent end to the war, while the US has so far not applied any significant pressure to alter the hardline stance.

Israel has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, and has since unleashed an all-out assault on the illegally occupied West Bank as well.