Hamas has handed over the remains of what is believed to be Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who was killed in 2014 and his body held as a bargaining chip for more than 4,000 days, Israel said on Sunday.
Goldin was serving as a lieutenant in the Givati Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when he was killed on August 1, 2014, two hours after a 72-hour ceasefire took effect that ended that year’s war between Israel and Hamas.
“We will receive the body of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin this afternoon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced earlier Sunday during a government meeting. “We have a legacy from the founding of the state – from the War of Independence to the War for Redemption – to give back our soldiers who died in battle, and we do that.”
Hamas announced it had found Goldin’s body in a tunnel in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah on Saturday and would return the body on Sunday afternoon local time.
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Hadar Goldin, an Israeli army officer killed in southern Gaza during the 2014 Israeli-Hamas war, is depicted in this undated handout photo. (Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now/Handout via Reuters)
Netanyahu’s office announced on Sunday that Israel had received a coffin from the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip. His office said the remains still need to undergo an official identification process by the Health Ministry’s National Center of Forensic Medicine, after which the family will be notified.
Goldin’s body was held in Gaza for 4,118 days. As part of the US-brokered peace deal, the Hamas terror group is expected to return the remains of all its hostages, most of whom were taken in the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Released Israeli hostage Matan Angrest holds a photo of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who was killed in 2014 and whose body has since been held in Gaza, during a rally calling for the return of the deceased hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, November 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Goldin’s parents led an 11-year campaign to bring their son home for the funeral.
ISRAEL RECEIVES TWO MORE HOSTAGE BOXES FROM GAZA VIA RED CROSS OPERATION AS IDENTIFICATION BEGINS
“Those who abandon the dead will abandon the wounded and the living,” Goldin’s family has repeated over the years.
Israel initially believed Goldin had been kidnapped and held captive, but later determined the soldier had been killed after finding evidence — including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer borders — in a tunnel where Goldin was taken.
Since the ceasefire began last month, Hamas has released the remains of 23 hostages. For every Israeli hostage returned, Israel has released the remains of fifteen Palestinians.
The war began with the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which kidnapped 251 people and killed 1,200, mostly civilians, in Israel.
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Earlier this year, the Israeli army recovered the body of another soldier killed in the 2014 war.
