Breaking News: Israel Confirms Return of Fallen Soldier Hadar Goldin's Remains from Gaza After 9 Years

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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 10 October that has halted the two-year-long Gaza war.

“After the identification process was completed … IDF (Israeli military) representatives informed the family of the fallen hostage Lieutenant Hadar Goldin that their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification has been finalised,” the prime minister’s office said.

“After 11 long and painful years, too long, Lt. Hadar Goldin, a hero of Israel, has today been returned to his homeland,” President Isaac Herzog wrote on X.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, recently returned the remains of an Israeli soldier, which were discovered in a tunnel in Rafah. The handover occurred after the remains were found the previous day, marking a significant development in the ongoing conflict.

Goldin’s body has been held in Gaza since his death.

Until now, Hamas had never acknowledged his death nor possession of his remains.

In a cooperative effort, Israeli authorities permitted Hamas and Red Cross teams to conduct a search in a region of Rafah under Israeli control. This collaborative search successfully located the remains of Goldin, a breakthrough after previous attempts to secure them through prisoner exchanges had been unsuccessful.

Amidst the backdrop of these events, voices from the Palestinian community in Gaza express desires for normalcy. “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,” a Palestinian resident shared, reflecting a common yearning for stability and peace.

Goldin, 23, was part of an Israeli unit tasked with locating and destroying Hamas tunnels when he was killed on 1 August 2014, just hours after a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire took effect.

According to Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian, Goldin had been killed in an ambush.

“The terrorists emerged from a tunnel in Rafah and attacked IDF soldiers,” Bedrosian told journalists on Sunday.

Red Cross personnel have been actively involved, aiding Al-Qassam Brigades fighters as they search for the bodies of Israeli hostages in the eastern Gaza Strip. The humanitarian efforts continue to provide a glimmer of hope in a region fraught with tension.

Samah Deeb, displaced from northern Gaza to central Gaza, remained apprehensive even as Hamas returned hostages.

“We still feel like hostages to the situation,” Deeb, 33, told Agence France-Presse.

“The next stage of the ceasefire, which involves disarmament of Hamas and administration of the strip worries us.

These sentiments resonate with many displaced Palestinians, including Mohammed Zamlout, who shares the hope for a future of peace and security in Gaza.

Red Cross workers assist as fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, search for the bodies of Israeli hostages in the east of the Gaza Strip. Source: AAP / Mohammed Saber / EPA

Her views were echoed by Mohammed Zamlout, another displaced Palestinian from Gaza.

“We want Israel’s withdrawal. We want to return to our destroyed homes, begin reconstruction, rebuild infrastructure and schools, and restore life for our children,” he said.

Israel listed Goldin among the deceased hostages whose remains it is seeking to repatriate under the ongoing US-brokered ceasefire deal to end the latest assault on Gaza.

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 remains of the deceased in line with the ceasefire terms.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees that had been in its custody, many without charge, and returned the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.

The remains of four hostages are still held in Gaza, three Israeli and one Thai, all of them seized during the October 2023 attack.