bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Israel said the remains it received on Sunday from Hamas were those of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, an Israeli officer killed more than a decade ago in the 2014 Gaza war.
Goldin was the 24th deceased hostage whose remains have been returned by Hamas since the start of the ceasefire on October 10 that has halted the latest war in Gaza, which broke out in October 2023.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said forensic experts had confirmed the remains were of Goldin.
“Today, we are united in having finally brought him back to his parents and his family to be laid to rest in Israel,” Netanyahu said in a video statement posted on X, holding a photograph of Goldin.

“It’s a relief. It’s time for this family to finally be able to mourn,” Judith Touati, a resident of Ramla in central Israel, said.
“In Israel, no one is forgotten, and we do everything to bring everyone home, even after 11 years.”
The return of Goldin’s remains in particular marked a deeply symbolic moment for Israel – where the military’s creed of leaving no soldier behind is treated as sacred – closing a painful 11-year chapter that has haunted both his family and the nation.
Several friends of Goldin’s family and his former comrades had gathered at the forensic centre where his remains were verified.
Rachel Zinkin, a friend of the family, said it would now be “a closure for the family and also for the Israeli society”.
Nevertheless, his father, Simcha Goldin, insisted that victory for Israel in Gaza would only come once all the hostages were home.

“What this war has proven is that when we fight for our soldiers, we succeed. Victory means bringing home the hostages and bringing home our soldiers to Israel.”
Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, handed over the remains earlier on Sunday, saying it had found them in a tunnel in Rafah the day before.
Goldin’s body had been held in Gaza since his death. Until now, Hamas had never acknowledged his death nor possession of his remains.
Israeli media reported on Saturday that Israel had allowed Hamas and Red Cross personnel to search in an area under Israeli control in Rafah to locate Goldin’s remains.
Goldin, 23, was part of an Israeli unit tasked with locating and destroying Hamas tunnels when he was killed on August 1, 2014, just hours after a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire took effect.
Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said Goldin had been killed in an ambush.

“The terrorists emerged from a tunnel in Rafah and attacked IDF soldiers,” Bedrosian told journalists on Sunday.
“Hadar was shot and killed during this Hamas attack, with terrorists dragging his body back into the tunnel.”
Parts of his body were found in a tunnel soon after the incident and the family had held his funeral in his hometown Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, in August 2014.
Previous efforts to retrieve his remains through prisoner swaps had failed.
“The return of his [Goldin’s] body, after an 11-year delay, carries great significance,” said Israeli columnist Amos Harel in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper.
“It will close a painful chapter and send a message that Israel’s commitment to leaving no soldier behind remains steadfast.”

But Gazan resident Samah Deeb, displaced from northern Gaza to a central part of the territory, remained apprehensive even as Hamas returned hostages.
“We still feel like hostages to the situation,” Deeb, 33, said.
“The next stage of the ceasefire, which involves disarmament of Hamas and administration of the [Gaza] Strip worries us.
“I want my children to have a dignified life, for schools and education to return, and for us to live in a proper home, not a tent or temporary shelter.”
At the start of the truce, Hamas was holding 20 living hostages and the bodies of 28 deceased captives.
It has since released all the living hostages and returned 24 sets of remains of the deceased in line with the ceasefire terms.
In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners that had been in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds killed in Gaza.
The remains of four hostages are still held in Gaza, three of them Israeli and one Thai, all of whom were seized during Hamas’ October 2023 attack.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli figures.
The Israeli military’s retaliatory campaign has since killed 69,176 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations, does not specify the number of fighters killed within this total.


Netanyahu to discuss Iran’s nuclear activities, next phase of Gaza plan with Trump

UK street artist Banksy unveils latest mural in central London

Ex-Israeli PM accuses Netanyahu of ‘treason’ over alleged Qatar funding to aides

Australian PM Albanese booed as Bondi Beach attack victims honoured

Israel-Gaza war

Israel confirms receiving remains of soldier killed in 2014 Gaza war

Supporters wearing T-shirts and holding banners with the image of Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin outside the National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. Photo: EPA

A van carrying Hadar Goldin’s remains arrives at the National Centre for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. Photo: AFP

Hadar Goldin. Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum via AP

Hamas militants carry a white bag believed to contain a body on October 28, after retrieving it from a tunnel during a search for the remains of hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Photo: AP

Buildings in Gaza City destroyed by the Israeli military. Photo: AP

Over 69,000 Palestinians killed in Israel-Gaza war, as bodies returned under truce terms

A Palestinian family sits around a fire amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Friday. Photo: AFP

People stand in front of a destroyed building in Khan Younis, as displaced Palestinians return to their homes. Photo: dpa

Lior Rudaeff’s body was returned to Israel on Friday after being held in Gaza by Palestinian militants. Photo: Hostage’s Family Forum/AP

Israeli soldiers remove a photographer from the scene of a clash with Palestinian protesters in Beit Lid on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Israel receives remains of 3 more Gaza hostages as fragile ceasefire holds

A Palestinian Hamas militant stands guard near the so-called ‘yellow line’ to which Israeli troops withdrew under the ceasefire, as Hamas continues to search for the bodies of deceased hostages in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

Red Cross vehicles transporting the remains. Photo: AP

Red Cross workers help search for bodies. Photo: EPA

Rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

Netanyahu says Hamas returned remains from previously retrieved body: ‘clear violation’

Israeli soldiers and police salute as a convoy carrying the body of a hostage arrives in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Members of the Red Cross inspect a coffin during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages by Hamas in Khan Younis on February 20. Photo: dpa

Palestinians watch as an Egyptian team searches for the bodies of hostages near a tent camp for displaced people in Khan Younis on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Turkey and Muslim allies say Palestinian self-rule is key to Gaza’s future

The rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

Ministers from several Muslim-majority countries meet in Istanbul. Photo: AFP

Israel confirms 3 bodies received from Hamas are not hostages amid fragile Gaza truce

The Red Cross transports the body of a deceased hostage on Friday, who had been held in Gaza since the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas. Photo: Reuters

A Palestinian mourns over victims killed during Israeli airstrikes, at al-Shifa hospital in west of Gaza City on October 28. Photo: Xinhua

Palestinians wait to get donated sugar and rice at a community kitchen in Khan Younis on Friday. Photo: AP

News

World

Middle East

The return of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin’s remains closes an 11-year chapter that has haunted both his family and the nation


The return of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin’s remains closes an 11-year chapter that has haunted both his family and the nation.


Israel confirms receiving remains of soldier killed in 2014 Gaza war

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The return of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin’s remains closes an 11-year chapter that has haunted both his family and the nation

The return of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin’s remains closes an 11-year chapter that has haunted both his family and the nation