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Hamas handed over the remains believed to be Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who was killed in 2014 and his body held as 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 came into effect that ended that year's war between Israel and Hamas.
“We are due to receive the body of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin this afternoon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at a government meeting on Sunday. “We have a legacy from the founding of the State – from the Revolutionary War to the War of Redemption – of giving back to our soldiers who fell in battle, and we are doing it.”
Hamas announced that it found Goldin's body in a tunnel in the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday and would return the body on Sunday afternoon local time.
HAMAS DELIVERS THE REMAINS OF A HOSTAGE WHOSE BODY WAS RECOVERED ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO
Hadar Goldin, an Israeli army officer killed in southern Gaza in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, is seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now/Handout via Reuters)
Netanyahu's office announced on Sunday that Israel received a coffin from the Red Cross inside the Gaza Strip. His office said the remains must still go through an official identification process by the Ministry of Health's National Center for Forensic Medicine, after which the family will receive notification.
Goldin's body was held in Gaza for 4,118 days. As part of the US-brokered peace deal, the Hamas terrorist group is expected to return the remains of all of its hostages, most of whom were taken during the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Released Israeli hostage Matan Angrest holds a photograph of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier killed in 2014 whose body has been held in Gaza since then, during a demonstration calling for the return of deceased hostages being 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.
ISRAEL RECEIVES 2 MORE COFFINS OF GAZA HOSTAGES THROUGH RED CROSS OPERATION AS IDENTIFICATION BEGINS
“Those who abandon the dead will abandon the wounded and the living,” Goldin's family repeated over the years.
Israel initially believed that Goldin had been kidnapped and held captive, although it later determined that the soldier had been murdered after finding evidence, including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes, in a tunnel to which Goldin was taken.
Since the ceasefire began last month, Hamas has freed the remains of 23 hostages. For every Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on October 7 against southern Israel, in which 251 people were kidnapped and 1,200 killed in Israel, mostly civilians.
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Earlier this year, the Israeli military recovered the body of another soldier who died in the 2014 war.
Yonat Friling of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
