(JNS) Israel on Sunday received the remains of fallen soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose body was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than 11 years, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem announced.
The evening news riveted a nation and brought to an end the family’s long struggle to see their loved one returned home for burial. Goldin, then 23, was killed and abducted by the terrorist group in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, during a ceasefire during the 2014 war (“Operation Protective Edge”).
Four more bodies are still being held in Gaza, those of three Israelis—Meny Godard, Sgt. Ran Gvili and Dror Or—and a Thai national, Sudthisak Rinthalak, who was working in agriculture in Israel at the time of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.
“The Israeli government shares in the deep sorrow of the Goldin family and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
The PMO says that Israel is “determined, committed and working tirelessly” to bring back the remaining four slain hostages for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”
Vehicles escorting fallen soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin arrive at the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv, Nov. 9, 2025. Photo by Matt Kaminsky/JNS.
“After 11 long and painful years, too long, Lt. Hadar Goldin, a hero of Israel, has today been returned to his homeland,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X. “The people of Israel embrace Hadar’s family today with deep love and boundless admiration for their unwavering strength and relentless, tireless struggle to bring Hadar home. For the hope that never dimmed, for their dignity, Zionism and unshakable faith that guided their every step.”
Herzog thanked US President Donald Trump and his team for their work that brought a painful chapter in Israeli history to an end after 4,118 days.
Hamas said that it “found” Goldin’s remains in a tunnel in the southernmost city of Rafah on Saturday. Goldin was killed on Aug. 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire took effect in that year’s war between Israel and Hamas.
“Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a fallen hostage, which was handed over to an IDF and ISA [Shin Bet] force inside the Gaza Strip,” the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem announced earlier in the afternoon.
After being handed over to Israeli troops inside the Strip, the coffin was brought to Israel, where it was received in a military ceremony with the participation of IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Moshe Krim.
The body was then transferred to the Health Ministry’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv, where it was identified by the evening.
Hundreds of people had gathered along intersections where the police convoy carried the remains, holding Israeli flags and paying their last respects.
“All of the hostages’ families have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated, adding, “The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned.”
The Red Cross team was dispatched shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Hamas was slated to return Goldin.
“Yesterday, Hamas announced that it is holding the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, of blessed memory. We are supposed to receive the body later this afternoon,” Netanyahu told reporters at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
“Throughout these years, we made great efforts in Israel’s governments to bring him back,” he stated, noting the “deep anguish of his family, who will now have the privilege of bringing him to burial in Israel.
“We said at the beginning of this war that we would bring back all the hostages, without exception,” the premier said. “So far, we have brought back 250. We will bring everyone home.”
Earlier on Sunday, Hamas announced it would return the fallen soldier around 2 p.m., after the terrorist group made a similar announcement the previous day but failed to follow through.
A senior Israeli political official condemned the delay in a statement to Israel Hayom on Sunday morning, saying that Jerusalem “demands his immediate return” and viewed Hamas’s actions with “utmost severity.”
The Israeli military determined that Goldin, an officer in the Givati Infantry Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion, was killed, based on evidence found in the tunnel where his body was taken, including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes, and a funeral was held at the time with his belongings.
Goldin’s weapon, a Tavor rifle that was brandished with glee by Hamas terrorists in video footage aired in December 2022, was recently returned to his father, Simcha Goldin.
Hadar Goldin grew up in the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba. He was engaged to be married, and is survived by his parents Leah and Simcha, a twin brother and a sister.
“More than anything, he’s my little brother. Time stopped,” Ayelet Goldin, Hadar’s older sister, wrote in a social media post. “I still feel like he just left and is already coming back. How do I feel? I don’t know yet. But I do know that what strengthens me is that we remained true to our truth—to our Israeli values. Good triumphs, and together we are changing history! This strengthens me greatly.
“My Hadar—you are my inspiration. And you live in my heart always, and I love you very much. And finally, you’ve come home.”
Efforts to secure his return from Gaza gained momentum after the Oct. 7 attack two years ago in which some 250 others were abducted to the Strip.
After Hamas said that it had located the slain soldier’s body on Saturday, the Goldin family issued a statement: “An entire nation is waiting for Hadar to be brought home. This is a mission that must and can be fulfilled for the sake of all of us. The IDF chief of staff came to update us after Shabbat on the tremendous efforts being made to bring back the hostages, and we salute everyone involved in this national mission. We are waiting for official confirmation that Hadar has returned to Israel.
“No one in this country is ever left behind. We ask everyone to stay calm. Until it’s final, it isn’t over.”
During his visit to the Goldin family in Kfar Saba, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Eyal Zamir “reiterated his personal and the IDF’s commitment to bringing back Hadar and all the fallen hostages, and emphasized the importance of restraint at these sensitive moments, until his arrival and the completion of the necessary checks and verification,” the military said.
“The IDF has brought Hadar back to his homeland – no one else,” Simcha Goldin said Sunday night. “And what this war has proven is that when we fight for our soldiers we succeed.”
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