by Jerusalem Post Staff
The remains of a Gaza hostage arrived at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, after the IDF transferred them from the Gaza Strip.
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The remains of a Gaza hostage arrived at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine on Sunday afternoon, the Health Ministry confirmed.
It is believed that the remains belong to Lieutenant Hadar Goldin. This, however, has not been confirmed. Goldin was a Givati Brigade officer who was killed in the Strip in 2014.
Earlier, Israel had received the remains from the Red Cross. Should the remains belong to one of the hostages, there will now be four deceased hostages remaining in Gaza.
"Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades will hand over... Lt. Hadar Goldin's remains, which were found yesterday afternoon in the path of one of the tunnels in the Yebna camp in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, at 2 p.m. Gaza time," Hamas said in a statement published to social media.
"We are supposed to receive Goldin's remains this afternoon. We have a legacy from the founding of the state - from the War of Independence to today - to return our soldiers who fell in battle, and we are doing it," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated earlier on Sunday.
Awaiting the return of Hadar Goldin
The announcement of the return comes as political pressure mounted on the terror group to return the remains of Hadar Goldin, an IDF soldier murdered during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.Hamas told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the group had recovered Goldin from Rafah.
The IDF’s Southern Command told Walla that excavations by Hamas in the southern Gaza city saw seven bodies removed from the site, and that Goldin’s body may have been one of them, adding that the report cannot be verified and that “the source of all the publications is Hamas alone.”
“An entire country is waiting for Hadar to be returned to us,” the family said in a statement. “The chief of staff arrived at the end of Shabbat to update us on the tremendous efforts to free the hostages, and we salute everyone involved in this national mission.
“We are waiting for news of official confirmation that Hadar has returned to Israel. We ask that you remain calm. Until it’s confirmed, it’s not over.”
Operation Protective Edge
In June of 2014, Hamas kidnapped and murdered Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaer, and Naftali Fraenkel, three hitchhiking Israeli teenagers, sparking a war between Israel and Hamas.On August 1, 2014, the US and UN announced that a ceasefire had been reached between Israel and Hamas, which would have allowed the IDF to continue dismantling certain Hamas tunnels.
That morning, Hadar was operating with his unit in Rafah. While working to dismantle a tunnel, Hamas terrorists, in breach of the US and UN-brokered ceasefire announced only hours earlier, emerged from the tunnel, shooting two soldiers and taking Hadar captive.
At first, all signs pointed to Hadar being alive, but within days, the IDF announced that he had been killed before his body was taken.
The Military Rabbinate decided that the matter was clear enough to hold a funeral, and despite his body being held in Gaza, partial remains were buried in a funeral attended by thousands of Israelis. There, he was eulogized by many, including his commander, parents, and fiancée, Edna Sarusi, whom he had been set to marry only months after his murder.
Leo Feierberg Better contributed to this report.
This is a developing story.
Jerusalem Post Staff
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-873216
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