Hamas Transfers Remains of Israeli Soldier Held Since 2014 Back to Israel
Body believed to be that of Hadar Goldin, missing since 2014 Gaza war, handed over via Red Cross for forensic identification
Tel Aviv, Nov 10: The remains of an Israeli soldier believed to be Hadar Goldin, who was killed and held by Hamas since 2014, were handed over to Israeli forces in Gaza through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Sunday.
According to the statement, the remains were transferred to Israel’s national forensic institute in Tel Aviv for verification and identification, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Hamas had earlier announced that it was handing over the body of Goldin, an Israeli army officer killed during the 2014 Gaza war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed that the remains were believed to be Goldin’s.
Opening his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said, “Over the past 11 years, successive Israeli governments made great efforts to bring him back. The anguish of his family has been deep, and they will now finally be able to lay him to rest in Israel.”
According to al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, Goldin’s body was found in a tunnel in the Yebna refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Saturday. This marks the first reported recovery operation in Rafah since a ceasefire took effect on October 10. The area remains largely under Israeli military control, with civilians still barred from returning.
In a separate statement, the Brigades claimed that Israeli forces were responsible for recent clashes in Rafah, saying their fighters were “defending themselves within an area under Israeli control.” They urged mediators to help maintain the ceasefire, noting that more resources and technical assistance would be needed to recover additional remains.
Before Sunday’s handover, Hamas had returned the remains of 23 hostages to Israel. If confirmed as Goldin’s, four bodies would still remain in Gaza three Israeli nationals and one Thai citizen abducted during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that Israel has released around 300 Palestinian bodies, many still unidentified. Despite the ongoing ceasefire, the ministry alleged that Israeli strikes and demolitions have continued, bringing the total death toll in Gaza since October 2023 to 69,169.
