The remains of Hadar Goldin, 23, are the only ones that remain in Gaza from before the current war. The Israeli soldier was killed on August 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire came into force that ended that year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas announced today that it will hand over, in the afternoon, the body of one of the five hostages still in its possession, with the remaining four still to be returned, adding that it is searching for them under the rubble in Gaza.
For its part, the armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, insisted on the need for Israel to allow specialized machinery and equipment to enter Gaza to be able to return the five bodies of hostages that remain in the enclave.
“The operation to remove the bodies during the previous phase was carried out under complex and extremely difficult conditions and, despite this, we fulfilled what was asked of us in the agreement. We confirm that the removal of the remaining bodies requires additional equipment and technical materials”, the group detailed in a statement.
Furthermore, he asked the mediators to “find a solution to guarantee the continuity of the ceasefire” and that Israel does not violate it “to attack innocent people and civilians in Gaza”, according to the text.
On Saturday, the brigades claimed to have found the body of Hadar Goldin in Rafah, an Israeli soldier whose corpse they have kept in their possession since 2014, and are expected to return it to Israel this afternoon at 2pm local time (12pm in Lisbon).
The remains of Hadar Goldin, 23, are the only ones that remain in Gaza from before the current war. The Israeli soldier was killed on August 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire came into force that ended that year’s conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Based on evidence found in the tunnel where Goldin’s body was taken, including a bloody shirt and prayer tassels, the army quickly concluded that he had died in the attack.
Goldin was survived by his parents and three brothers, including a twin. He had proposed to his girlfriend before he died. Earlier this year, the family marked 4,000 days since the body was taken. The army this year recovered the body of another soldier killed in the 2014 war.
Hamas has reported on several occasions, since the ceasefire came into force on October 10, that the Israeli armed forces are not allowing it access to Rafah, where it believes the soldier’s body was located.
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In Rafah, there are also more than a hundred Hamas militiamen, imprisoned since Israel took control of the city, according to the group, which is why, in today’s statement, Hamas warns of possible “clashes” in that area against its militiamen.
With Goldin’s handover, there are now four hostages, apparently all dead, in the hands of Hamas.
Meny Godard, 73, was a professional football player before enlisting in the Israeli army and participating in the 1973 Middle East war, according to Kibbutz Be’eri. He performed several functions in the ‘kibbutz’, including in the local printing office.
On the morning of October 7, Godard and his wife, Ayelet, were forced to leave their home after it was set on fire. The woman hid in the bushes for several hours until she was discovered and killed by the militants.
Before he died, he managed to tell his children that Meny had been killed. The family held a double funeral for the couple. They left behind four children and six grandchildren.
Ran Gvili, 24, a member of an elite police unit, was recovering from a broken shoulder caused by a motorbike accident, but rushed to help colleagues on October 7th. After helping people flee the Nova music festival, he was killed in combat elsewhere and his body taken to Gaza. The army confirmed the death four months later. He left behind his parents and a sister.
Dror Or, 52 years old, father of three, worked on the Kibbutz Be’eri dairy farm for 15 years, eventually becoming manager. He was an expert in cheese making, according to family and friends. On October 7, the family hid in the safe room when the attackers set the house on fire. Dror and his wife, Yonat, were killed. Two of the children, Noam, 17, and Alma, 13, were kidnapped and released during the November 2023 ceasefire.
Finally, Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai agricultural worker who worked at Kibbutz Be’eri. According to media reports, he was divorced and had been working in Israel since 2017.
In total, 31 Thai workers were kidnapped on October 7, the largest group of foreigners held captive. Most were released during the first and second ceasefires. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that, in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais were killed during the war.
On Saturday, health authorities in the Gaza Strip said that more than 69,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, had been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7, 2023.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, led by the Palestinian Islamist movement, the death toll rose to 69,169, with another 170,685 injured.
The latest increase in deaths is attributed to the greater number of bodies recovered from the rubble since the ceasefire was announced in the devastated Gaza Strip and also to the identification of previously unidentified bodies.
