Remains located by Hamas belong to IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, killed in 2014 Gaza war — Al Jazeera

According to Al Jazeera, the body that Hamas claims to have located today in southern Gaza’s Rafah belongs to Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed and abducted by the terror group on August 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge.

Hamas has not yet announced its intention to return the body, which it has held for 4,117 days, to Israel. Goldin was killed and abducted by Hamas in a violation of an internationally brokered ceasefire that had just come into effect.

A senior source in the terror group tells Al Jazeera that alongside the body of Goldin, the bodies of six “martyrs” — apparently referring to Hamas fighters — were also recovered.

At 9:05 a.m. on August 1, 2014, just over an hour after the start of a humanitarian ceasefire, Hamas gunmen emerged from a tunnel in the southeastern part of Rafah and attacked troops of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, killing three soldiers, including Lt. Hadar Goldin — whose body was dragged by the terror operatives back into their tunnel.

Earlier today, it was reported that Red Cross and Hamas members were headed to the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah to search for the body of an Israeli hostage.

Jenina, which is on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line — meaning IDF-held territory — is where some 150 Hamas operatives are assessed by the IDF to be holed up in a tunnel network.

Defense officials said earlier this week that the body of Goldin is being held in the area, though the IDF denied having any intelligence indicating that the remains are being held in the tunnel with the trapped gunmen.

The US has been pressuring Israel to permit safe passage for the operatives who are trapped in the IDF-held area, as part of efforts to advance to the next stage of the emerging ceasefire framework based on Trump’s plan.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir recommended to political officials earlier this week that Israel should condition the safe passage of the operatives from Rafah to Hamas-held areas of the Strip on the return of Goldin’s body. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will not allow them safe passage.