The Israeli military has confirmed that the body handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross this Sunday (9/11) is that of Hadar Goldin, a hostage killed in Gaza more than a decade ago. His body, which has since been in the possession of the Islamic group, was found “in a tunnel” on Saturday (August 11).
Hamas returned the bodies of the hostages to the Red Cross this Sunday. Rumors began to spread on Saturday when a video was released showing an armed group accompanied by Red Cross members entering a tunnel in Gaza and recovering a body believed to be Goldin’s.
Several Israeli media outlets subsequently reported that Israel had authorized members of Hamas and the Red Cross to carry out searches inside tunnels in the part of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip currently controlled by Israeli forces.
Israeli military commander Eyal Zamir reportedly met with the lieutenant’s family in the evening, informed them of the situation and promised to return the body to Israel.
“It’s not over until there’s a final conclusion,” a family representative declared.
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On Sunday, the Hamas militant group announced the return of the bodies. “The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades will hand over the body of Officer Hadar Goldin, which was found yesterday in a tunnel in the city of Rafah, at 2:00 pm Gaza time (12:00 pm Japan time),” the armed group said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Late in the afternoon, Israel confirmed that the body returned this Sunday was confirmed to be that of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin.
Hadar Goldin was killed on August 1, 2014, at the age of 23, while on a reconnaissance mission with his troops in tunnels near Rafah during the last war in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli military.
In January last year, the body of Oron Shaul, a 21-year-old soldier who died on July 20, 2014 when the military vehicle he was riding in exploded during a military operation in Gaza City, was repatriated from Gaza to Israel by the Israeli army and buried there.
years of negotiations
The soldier’s repatriation, 11 years after his death, ends more than a decade of uncertainty for his family and has great symbolic importance for Israel.
For years, the bodies of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul were at the center of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners of war.
Even after Hadar Goldin’s body was handed over, the four deceased hostages remain held in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas has yet to return the body to Israel in accordance with the cease-fire agreement that went into effect on October 10.
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