KFAR SABA – In a poignant gathering, tens of thousands convened in central Israel on Tuesday to bid farewell to an Israeli soldier whose remains had been held in Gaza for over a decade. The funeral of Lt. Hadar Goldin drew vast crowds, filling the cemetery and spilling into adjacent streets, as mourners solemnly waved Israeli flags.

For Goldin’s family, the ceremony marked a moment of closure following their lengthy and public quest to repatriate his remains.

Hamas returned Goldin’s remains on Sunday, yet the bodies of four other hostages, captured during the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza.

Goldin, aged 23, was tragically killed just two hours after a ceasefire was declared during the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas. In the years leading up to the October 7 attacks, his image, alongside that of another soldier, Oron Shaul, whose body was also seized in 2014, became a symbol of the ongoing campaign by their families to secure their return.

Evidence collected from the tunnel where Goldin’s body was taken, including a blood-stained shirt and prayer fringes, led the Israeli military to conclude his death long ago. His remains were the last Israeli ones held in Gaza before the current conflict reignited between Israel and Hamas.

Family recalls many disappointments in 11-year saga

After Goldin’s body was identified, his parents noted the “many disappointments” in their efforts over the years and said that Israel’s military and “not anyone else” had brought home their son, in apparent criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu told the weekly Cabinet meeting that holding the body for so long caused “great agony of his family, which will now be able to give him a Jewish burial.” Israel recovered Shaul’s remains earlier this year.

Leah Goldin told The Associated Press earlier this year that recovering her son’s body is part of the social contract between Israel and its citizens, who are required by law to serve in the military.

“Hadar is a soldier who went into combat and they abandoned him, and they destroyed his humanitarian rights and ours as well,” Goldin said. She said that her family often felt alone in their struggle to bring Hadar, an artist with a talent for drawing who had just become engaged, home for burial.

Goldin’s capture was followed by a deadly effort to recover him

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Israel’s initial efforts to recover Goldin, in what Palestinian witnesses described as heavy and indiscriminate shelling.

Fearing a soldier had fallen into enemy hands, Israel invoked its “Hannibal” directive, a protocol that allowed the heavy use of force to prevent the capture of a comrade, and Israeli forces attacked a neighborhood on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah with artillery fire, tanks shells and airstrikes, killing over 110 Palestinians.

Palestinian residents described a terrifying ordeal as they fled their homes and searched for cover amid heavy shelling of the area. Human rights groups identified 121 people killed and accused Israel of committing war crimes by allegedly using disproportionate or indiscriminate force and failing to distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Hannibal directive was canceled by the military in 2016 following heavy criticism. In 2017, the military introduced a revised version.

In the 2014 war, over 2,200 Palestinians were killed, including hundreds of civilians, and widespread damage was inflicted on Gaza’s infrastructure. Another 73 people were killed on the Israeli side during 50 days of fighting.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.