After 11 Years, Remains of Young Hostage Soldier Returned to Israel  

Hadar Goldin had just gotten engaged when Hamas terrorists ambushed and killed him during a ceasefire in Gaza. For 11 years, his family worked to bring his body home. Over the weekend, Goldin’s remains were finally released.  

“Victory means bringing home the hostages and bringing home our soldiers to Israel,” Simcha Goldin, the father of Hadar Goldin, told press Sunday.  

Goldin was 23 when he fell in battle in August 2014 in the southern Gaza city of Rafah during Operation Protective Edge. Israel and Hamas were engaged in an armed conflict at the time, but a ceasefire had just taken effect about two hours before Hamas attacked and killed Goldin, reportedly then dragging his body into a tunnel.  

“The effort to retrieve him involved extensive intelligence and operational activity by the [Israel Defense Forces] and the [Israel Security Agency], which continued throughout the past decade and during the current war,” the IDF wrote on X.  

Goldin leaves behind a mother, father, sister, two brothers, and a fiancé.  

Goldin’s release was negotiated as part of the hostage deal Israel and Hamas, through third-party negotiators, reached in October.  

“The Goldin family’s relentless decade-long effort to bring him home gave strength to countless others whose loved ones remains are being used as sick bargaining chips by Hamas,” Michael Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on X Sunday above a photo with Goldin’s mother.  

“I hope Hadar will continue to be the symbol he has been until now. I’m not just fighting for Hadar—I’m fighting for the next hostage. And if Oct. 7 didn’t become a wake-up call for everyone in the State of Israel, it’s time for you to look at us and let us explain why it’s important and imperative to fight for our children,” Goldin’s mother, Leah Goldin, said Sunday night according to the hostage advocacy organization Bring Them Home Now.  

Hamas took 251 hostages into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. When a deal was reached to stop the fighting and release the hostages last month, there were still 20 living hostages and the remains of 28 other deceased hostages in Gaza.

All of the remaining living hostages were returned to Israel on Oct. 13. Following Goldin’s release, Hamas is still believed to be holding the remains of four dead hostages.  

Israel has accused Hamas of slow walking the release of the hostages in violation of the peace deal that is based on President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan between Israel and Hamas. The plan required all hostages, living and dead, be released within days of the deal’s signing. Despite multiple reported violations of the ceasefire, the fighting remains largely paused. The next phase of the deal is expected to include a complete end to the war.  

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