Israel’s Army Chief Vows to Recover Remains of Officer Killed in 2014 Gaza War

JERUSALEM, Nov 9: Israel’s military chief has vowed to bring home the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, an Israeli officer killed during the 2014 Gaza war, following reports that Hamas may have located his body during a search permitted by Israel.

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), met with Goldin’s family on Saturday to update them on recent developments related to the case.

“Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met this evening with the Goldin family and updated them on the information known to the IDF so far,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “The chief of the general staff emphasized his commitment and the IDF’s commitment to bringing back Hadar and all the fallen hostages.”

According to Israeli media reports, Hamas and Red Cross personnel were allowed to conduct a search earlier on Saturday in a part of southern Rafah under Israeli control. While neither Hamas nor the IDF confirmed the operation, several outlets, including Channel 12, reported that Hamas located Goldin’s remains in a tunnel beneath the area.

Goldin, 23, served in an IDF engineering unit tasked with locating and destroying Hamas tunnels when he was killed on August 1, 2014, just hours after a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire began. His body was reportedly seized by militants and has been held in Gaza since, though Hamas has never publicly acknowledged possessing it.

Another Israeli soldier, Oron Shaul, who was also killed during the 2014 conflict, had his body recovered earlier this year amid the ongoing Gaza war that erupted after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

Israel continues to list Goldin among the deceased hostages whose remains it seeks to repatriate under a US-brokered ceasefire arrangement aimed at ending the latest phase of the Gaza conflict.

At the start of the current truce on October 10, Hamas was believed to be holding 20 living hostages and the bodies of 28 deceased captives. Since then, the group has released all surviving hostages and returned 23 sets of remains as part of the ceasefire terms.

In return, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and handed over the bodies of several hundred Palestinians.

Despite progress in the negotiations, four hostage bodies three Israeli and one Thai remain in Gaza, all believed to have been seized during the October 2023 assault.

Efforts to secure the return of Goldin and Shaul’s remains have spanned nearly a decade and multiple prisoner swap negotiations, none of which succeeded. Goldin’s case remains especially symbolic in Israel, representing the long-standing demand to bring home all fallen soldiers.

Lt. Gen. Zamir reaffirmed that the IDF remains “fully committed” to recovering every Israeli soldier and civilian held in Gaza, both living and deceased, as part of its broader goal of securing national and humanitarian closure.