Israel said the remains it received on Sunday from Hamas were those of lieutenant Hadar Goldin, an Israeli officer killed more than a decade ago in the 2014 Gaza war.
Goldin was the 24th deceased hostage whose remains have been returned by Hamas since the start of the ceasefire on 10 October that has halted the two-year-long Gaza war.
“After the identification process was completed … IDF (Israeli military) representatives informed the family of the fallen hostage Lieutenant Hadar Goldin that their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification has been finalised,” the prime minister’s office said.
“After 11 long and painful years, too long, Lt. Hadar Goldin, a hero of Israel, has today been returned to his homeland,” President Isaac Herzog wrote on X.
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed faction of Hamas, has returned remains they discovered in a tunnel in Rafah. The handover took place earlier this Sunday, following the find on the previous day.
Goldin’s body has been held in Gaza since his death.
Until now, Hamas had never acknowledged his death nor possession of his remains.
According to reports from Israeli media, Israel permitted personnel from Hamas and the Red Cross to conduct a search within an Israeli-controlled sector in Rafah to locate the remains of Goldin.
Efforts in the past to recover his remains through negotiations for prisoner exchanges were unsuccessful.
Goldin, 23, was part of an Israeli unit tasked with locating and destroying Hamas tunnels when he was killed on 1 August 2014, just hours after a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire took effect.
According to Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian, Goldin had been killed in an ambush.
“The terrorists emerged from a tunnel in Rafah and attacked IDF soldiers,” Bedrosian told journalists on Sunday.
One individual expressed a heartfelt desire for their children to experience a life of dignity, emphasizing the need for a return to proper schooling and education, as well as stable housing beyond temporary shelters or tents.
Samah Deeb, displaced from northern Gaza to central Gaza, remained apprehensive even as Hamas returned hostages.
“We still feel like hostages to the situation,” Deeb, 33, told Agence France-Presse.
“The next stage of the ceasefire, which involves disarmament of Hamas and administration of the strip worries us.
Red Cross personnel are providing assistance as members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, continue to search for the bodies of Israeli hostages in the eastern Gaza Strip. Source: AAP / Mohammed Saber / EPA
Red Cross workers assist as fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, search for the bodies of Israeli hostages in the east of the Gaza Strip. Source: AAP / Mohammed Saber / EPA
Her views were echoed by Mohammed Zamlout, another displaced Palestinian from Gaza.
“We want Israel’s withdrawal. We want to return to our destroyed homes, begin reconstruction, rebuild infrastructure and schools, and restore life for our children,” he said.
Israel listed Goldin among the deceased hostages whose remains it is seeking to repatriate under the ongoing US-brokered ceasefire deal to end the latest assault on Gaza.
At the start of the truce, Hamas was holding 20 living hostages and the bodies of 28 deceased captives.
It has since released all the living hostages and returned 24 remains of the deceased in line with the ceasefire terms.
In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees that had been in its custody, many without charge, and returned the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.
The remains of four hostages are still held in Gaza, three Israeli and one Thai, all of them seized during the October 2023 attack.
