In a significant development, Hamas has transferred remains believed to belong to Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier killed in 2014, over to Israeli authorities. For more than 4,000 days, Goldin’s body had been retained by Hamas as a strategic bargaining tool. This transfer was officially announced by Israel on Sunday.
During his service with the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) Givati Brigade, Lt. Hadar Goldin tragically lost his life on August 1, 2014. His death occurred just two hours into a 72-hour ceasefire that concluded the conflict between Israel and Hamas that year.
“We are set to receive the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin this afternoon,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a governmental assembly earlier in the day. He emphasized the enduring commitment of the Israeli state to retrieve soldiers who have fallen in battle, a legacy tracing back from the War of Independence to the present day.
Hamas reported discovering Goldin’s body in a tunnel located in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza, on Saturday. They pledged to return the remains by Sunday afternoon, according to local time.
A photograph, provided courtesy of Bring Them Home Now via Reuters, depicts Hadar Goldin, the Israeli officer whose life was claimed during the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict in southern Gaza.
On Sunday, the Prime Minister’s office confirmed that Israel had received a coffin from the Red Cross within Gaza. The remains are set to undergo a formal identification process at the Health Ministry’s National Center of Forensic Medicine. Once this process is complete, Goldin’s family will be notified accordingly.
Goldin’s body was held in Gaza for 4,118 days. As part of the U.S.-brokered peace deal, the Hamas terror group is expected to return the remains of all its hostages, most of whom were taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Freed Israeli hostage Matan Angrest holds a photo of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier killed in 2014 whose body has been held in Gaza since then, during a rally calling for the return of the deceased hostages who are held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Goldin’s parents spent 11 years spearheading a campaign to bring their son home for burial.
“Those who abandon the dead will abandon the wounded and the living,” Goldin’s family repeated over the years.
Israel initially believed Goldin was kidnapped and being held captive, though later determined that the soldier had been killed after finding evidence – including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes – in a tunnel where Goldin was taken.
Since the ceasefire began last month, Hamas has released the remains of 23 hostages. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.
The war began with the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which 251 people were kidnapped and 1,200 killed in Israel, mostly civilians.
Earlier this year, the Israeli military retrieved the body of another soldier who was killed in the 2014 war.
