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


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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel