Op-ed

Once again, Hadar Goldin may be left behind

Even after the phase 2 of the Hamas-Israel deal, 35 bodies will still be held in Gaza. Among them: Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, killed and abducted in Gaza, during a ceasefire, in 2014

Tal Schneider

Tal Schneider is a Political Correspondent at The Times of Israel

Simcha Goldin, father of fallen and abducted Israeli soldier Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, whose body is still held by Hamas in Gaza. July 9, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)
Simcha Goldin, father of fallen and abducted Israeli soldier Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, whose body is still held by Hamas in Gaza. July 9, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

The first week of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was marked by a sense of joy that swept through the nation. Seven Israeli women who had been held in Gaza for over 470 days were released alive and in reasonable physical condition.

The ceasefire also put a halt to the drumroll of fallen IDF soldiers. Another source of relief for many came with the resignation of national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, arguably Israel’s most toxic political figure.

Much of the Israeli public is now focusing its efforts on persuading the government to proceed with the second phase of the hostage deal, aiming to bring back 29 young men to Israel, including seven foreign nationals.

This number is not final, as it depends on the count of fatalities. Currently, 35 hostages have been officially declared dead by the IDF. None of their names are on the list of hostages set to be freed in the current phase, in which 26 more Israelis –women, the two young Bibas children, elderly and humanitarian cases — are set to be released in the remaining five weeks.

The pressure to advance to the second phase is evident in the streets, in the efforts of the hostages’ families within the American political arena, and in media coverage.

Reports from Washington indicate significant involvement by Miriam Adelson, who directly influences US President Donald Trump, alongside civil organizations declaring they will submit Trump’s name as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. And Trump and his senior team are expressing support for the continuation of the deal.

Miriam Adelson (second left), wearing a dress showcasing yellow ribbons, the symbol of support for the release of hostages held by Hamas. Adelson appears with staff members of the US Israel Education Association at the Republican Jewish Coalition Inauguration Ball in Washington D.C. on 20 January 2025 (USIEA on X)

On Sunday night, Israel received limited information from Hamas regarding the dead among those being freed in phase one. This is a part of a complex, difficult, and painful process — relating to people who were kidnapped alive and were murdered or died during captivity.

The IDF and its Prisoners and Missing Persons Division possess extensive intelligence on each hostage, including those who did not survive captivity. However, in some cases, the available information is insufficient for the rabbinical committee to officially declare their deaths.

In fact, some of the hostages included in the first phase of the deal were placed on that list precisely because there was no conclusive information about their deaths. In this painful reality, hostages whose deaths are known to be certain were left, to the sorrow of many, for the third phase of the deal — if and when it happens.

But on the day Israel reaches the third phase — if it indeed does — it will have nothing left to offer Hamas, except the issue of Gaza’s reconstruction.

On the one hand, the opening clause of the ceasefire agreement states: “The purpose of the framework agreement is the release of all Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip, civilians and soldiers, whether alive or not, from all periods.”

On the other hand, when Israel is required to negotiate with the terror organization for the return of bodies, it will lack any effective leverage. The declarations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians about their commitment to retrieving all fallen soldiers may turn out to be empty rhetoric.

Lieutenant Hadar Goldin z”l, who was killed in Gaza on August 1, 2014. His body is held by Hamas (courtesy)

Empty promises?

Take, for example, the Goldin family: parents Leah and Simcha and siblings Ayelet, Menachem, and Tzur. For 10.5 years, they have been pleading for the return of the body of slain soldier Hadar Goldin.

The family has heard countless promises and declarations from politicians. In 2018, Simcha Goldin told the media that they had been assured that prisoners released in the Gilad Shalit deal who were later rearrested would serve as a bargaining chip for the return of Hadar’s body. But this week, the Shalit deal prisoners were re-released, meaning they can no longer be used as leverage.

In November 2018, Simcha Goldin also said Netanyahu had repeatedly promised the Goldins that there would be no arrangement in Gaza without the return of the bodies of Hadar and fellow soldier Oron Shaul.

Oron Shaul was killed and his body was abducted during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. His body was recovered last weekend by IDF special forces, based on intelligence information that pinpointed the location of his remains, just hours before the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip began.

Zehava Shaul mourns at the grave of her son, IDF Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was killed and captured by the Hamas terror group in 2014, at his funeral in Poria Illit in northern Israel, January 20, 2025. Shaul’s body was returned to Israel from Gaza in a clandestine Israeli operation on January 19, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Hadar Goldin was killed and kidnapped in a separate incident, also in 2014, during a Hamas violation of the ceasefire agreement of Operation Protective Edge. Over the years, Israel has conducted extensive intelligence investigations into the route by which Goldin’s body was taken, and the IDF has a general idea of where to search for it.

However, The Times of Israel has learned that even now, Hamas is unwilling to incorporate Goldin into the hostage release deal, despite being aware of his location. The reason may be the length of time that has passed since the abduction and his transformation into a national symbol for the Israeli public.

And so, the tragedy and suffering of the Goldin family continues with no end in sight. And 35 other families of those declared fallen by the IDF may find themselves in a similar situation.

Demonstrators raise placards bearing the names of hostages held captive in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure their release, Tel Aviv on January 25, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)

The big question is what will happen after the living hostages are returned. Will the Israeli public stand up for the families of the fallen? The consequences of public indifference could be harsh and painful.

Translated and edited from the Hebrew original on The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael.

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