Hamas Returns Remains of Israeli Soldier Hadar Goldin
On Sunday, Israel announced that Hamas has returned the remains of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who was killed back in 2014 and kept for over 4,000 days. Goldin, who was a lieutenant in the Givati Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), lost his life on August 1, 2014, just two hours after a temporary ceasefire was established during that year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed at a government meeting early Sunday, “We will receive the body of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin this afternoon. Our history is built on ensuring our fallen soldiers are brought home, from the Revolutionary War to the present, and we are doing just that.”
Hamas found Goldin’s body in a tunnel in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, and announced it would be returned that same afternoon according to local time.
Netanyahu’s office reported that they received a coffin from the Red Cross inside Gaza. However, formal identification procedures will still need to take place, which will involve the Health Ministry’s National Center for Forensic Medicine before notifying the family.
Goldin’s remains had been held in Gaza for 4,118 days. As part of a peace deal mediated by the United States, Hamas intends to return the remains of all hostages taken during the recent October 7, 2023 attack.
The return of Goldin’s remains is significant for his family, who have spent over a decade campaigning to retrieve their son for a proper burial. They often remarked, “Those who abandon the dead abandon the injured and the living.”
At first, Israel believed Goldin had been kidnapped, but evidence found later, including a bloody shirt, pointed to the tragic conclusion that he had been killed.
Since the ceasefire started last month, Hamas has released the remains of 23 hostages, while for each Israeli returned, Israel has released 15 Palestinians. The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel, which resulted in 251 kidnappings and over 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians.
Earlier this year, the Israeli military also recovered the remains of another soldier who had died in the 2014 conflict.
