It is 4000 days ago that Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old Israeli soldier and budding artist, was ambushed and killed by Hamas terrorists during an American mediated stakes-fires in Gaza.
His remains were never returned.
For his mother, Leah Goldin, the end of time has only deepened the urgency. In a broad interview that marked the grim milestone, she thanked President Donald Trump and his advisers for their efforts so far and asked them to ensure that no cease-fire, standardization agreement or regional agreement is progressing without the return of her son.
“We turn to and hope that President Trump and his people – who understand this issue – will acknowledge that the real victory on Iran is to bring everyone home immediately and unconditionally. Hadar is a symbol, and the Saudis must do this requirement on their side, because you cannot speak of normalization while we remain in a state of abnormality.
Marco Rubio holds the first meeting with families of hostages in the hands of Hamas
Hadar Goldin’s body has been caught by Hamas terrorists for 4000 days. Goldin was killed by the terror group, which has since retained his body as a negotiating ship. (Courtesy: Bring them home now)
“These deals are a bluff – and this selective process is terrible. It kills the families and the hostages. The further we go without bringing everyone back and ending this terrible war, the more Hadar Goldins will be. It is unbearable.”
Hadar Goldin was born from a prominent family of educators and increased about values of faith, services and compassion. Hadar was known for its soft character, sharp intellect and deep artistic talent. He was just engaged. In his spare time he pulled portraits, wrote poetry and taught children with disabilities.
He served in the Elite Givati Brigade when Hamas on 1 August 2014 during Operation Protective Edge a cessation -the -furen violated -hours earlier agreed with us and UN mediation -by launching a surprise attack. Hadar was killed and dragged into a tunnel in Gaza.
For his mother, that moment not only shattered the world of her family, but also what she calls “the holy code of the Israeli army.”
“The ethos of the IDF is never to leave a soldier,” she said. “But on August 28, 2014, Israel signed a cease -Fires with Hamas without demanding Hadar’s return. That broke something fundamental.”
In the past decade, Leah Goldin has met world leaders, legislators and military officials in the US and Europe and in search of her son and others like him. It points to the resolution of the UN Security Council 2474, adopted in 2019, which obliges all parties to reduce the remains of the dead as a humanitarian act and a measure for building trust.
“This is international law,” she said. “And yet Hadar is still in Gaza.”
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Family members of hostages still held in Gaza, Anthony Rubio, Moshe Lavi, Tzur Goldin, IAIR Horn and Ilay David meet on 28 June 2025 in Washington, DC with Minister of Foreign Affairs Marco Rubio (The Gogagages and Missing Families Forum)
Goldin credit the Trump administration for taking the issue seriously. “When the resolution was adopted in 2019, it was the people of Trump – Jason Greenblatt, Nikki Haley – who gave birth,” she said.
Nowadays Goldin sees a rare opportunity – a convergence of diplomatic efforts with Iran, Saudi Aarabia and Gaza – to demand Hadar’s return before any agreements are completed.
“Saudi -Arabia has a huge leverage,” she said. “They lead the Islamic world. If they want normalization with Israel, let them return the return of Hadar and all hostages as a gesture of goodwill.”
She also praised Steve Witkoff, a Trump envoy about both Iran and Saudi issues, and urged him to connect to the points. “He is in charge of the deals. He knows that the hostages matter. Do not say that you finish the company and tackle the hostages later. That is immoral.”
File with a terrorist from Hamas who participates in a military parade. (Reuters/Ibraeem Abu Mustafa/File photo)
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Goldin says that she has lost confidence in the Israeli government, who, according to her, repeatedly put her son aside for political convenience. “They are 11 years old the same people, only in different seats,” she said. “They sign -fire, they give terrorists free -but leave Hadar behind.”
Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, Leah and her family have taken on a new role: advising and supporting the families of current hostages through the hostage and Missage Families Forum, a group that helped them build in the days after the attack.
“My son Tzur, who also served in special forces, said that no family should endure this alone,” she said. “So we organized – they gave our contacts, our tools, our lessons. But it is painful. Because we have seen this before. And we know how easy it is to be forgotten.”
She calls the ongoing hostage negotiations ‘a nightmare of selection’, in which some are given priority and left others. “As a daughter of survivors of Holocaust, this feels like a moral collapse,” she said.
President Donald Trump meets various hostages liberated from Hamas on March 7. (Gostage Families Forum)
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Goldin says she won’t stop until Hadar – and all hostages – come home.
“Hadar is not just my son,” she said. “He is now a symbol. And in every cease -the fire, in every back room agreement, on every ‘company as a usual’ moment -I want the world to remember its name.”
