Israel confirmed that remains received on Sunday have been identified as Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed on August 1, 2014, and held in Gaza for more than 11 years. The International Committee of the Red Cross transferred the remains to the Israeli military as part of a ceasefire handover. Family members and officials marked his burial while reiterating the national value of bringing soldiers home. Goldin's return leaves four deceased hostages still believed to be in Gaza.
Lt. Hadar Goldin’s Remains Returned to Israel After 11 Years in Gaza
Israel confirmed that remains received on Sunday have been identified as Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed on August 1, 2014, and held in Gaza for more than 11 years. The International Committee of the Red Cross transferred the remains to the Israeli military as part of a ceasefire handover. Family members and officials marked his burial while reiterating the national value of bringing soldiers home. Goldin's return leaves four deceased hostages still believed to be in Gaza.
11:19 AM, 11/10/2025Conflict
Israel confirms remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin returned after 11 years in Gaza
Israel announced on Sunday that the remains it received earlier that afternoon have been identified as those of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed on August 1, 2014, during the closing days of the Israel–Hamas war. Goldin's body had been held in Gaza since the conflict and was transferred to Israeli authorities via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The family held a burial in Kfar Saba, where relatives and officials paid tribute to Goldin's service and to the national commitment to bringing soldiers home.
“We brought Lt. Hadar Goldin — our son, a fighter — to be buried in Israel. We do not abandon soldiers on the battlefield, because this is a value and we don't compromise on values. Victory means bringing home the hostages and bringing home our soldiers to Israel,” said his father, Simcha Goldin.
After the burial, his mother, Leah Goldin, said: “The first is the value of friendship and comradeship, the second is the right to burial in Israel, and the third is human dignity. We cannot give up on who we are, and we will prevail through our values.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he shared the family's anguish and welcomed the return: “I know the anguish that his family has endured. I know the pain and the solidarity that have united the entire people of Israel. And today, we are united in the knowledge that we have finally brought him back to his parents and to his family.”
The handover of what Hamas said were Goldin's remains to the ICRC, and then to the Israeli military, was part of the first phase of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that eased large-scale fighting in Gaza about a month ago. Israeli intelligence has cautioned that some deceased hostages may not be locatable or recoverable.
Goldin was 23 when he died and was one of 68 Israeli soldiers killed during the roughly six-week 2014 war. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in that conflict.
With Goldin's return, Israeli authorities say four deceased hostages are still believed to remain in Gaza: three Israelis taken on October 7, 2023, whose bodies were reportedly taken into Gaza, and a Thai national who was abducted during that attack and later presumed dead by his government.
This is a developing story.