Slain soldier's father: Condition Gaza aid on returning my son's body

Simcha Goldin says treatment of Hamas officials in Israeli jails should be provisional on release of two soldiers’ remains

The father of one of the two IDF soldiers whose remains are being held by Hamas in Gaza urged the Israeli government to withhold humanitarian aid until the bodies are released.

“All humanitarian aid which will ease the suffering of the Gazan civilians and the treatment of all Hamas officials who are sitting in our prisons should be conditional upon our sons being brought to, and buried in, Israel,” Simcha Goldin said, according to the Ynet news website.

Lt. Hadar Goldin and Sergeant Oron Shaul were killed during Operation Protective Edge and their bodies have been held by the Gaza-based Palestinian terrorist group since.

Goldin, an officer in the Givati Brigade, was killed on August 1, 2014 near Rafah during an operation to find and destroy Hamas tunnels.

Shaul was killed July 20, 2014, along with six other soldiers, when his armored personnel carrier was hit in the eastern Gaza neighborhood of Shejaiya.

IDF soldiers Oron Shaul (left) and Hadar Goldin (right) (Flash90)

Shaul’s remains were the only ones from that incident not recovered. His family maintains hope he is still alive and held hostage by Hamas, but medical experts have said there was little chance the soldier survived.

The IDF has designated both men as soldiers killed in action whose place of burial is unknown.

“There is an obligation to return every IDF soldier to the land of Israel, to release him or to bury him in national soil. This is the obligation of the public, this is the obligation of the army, and this is the obligation of defense,” Goldin said at a monument unveiling for slain soldier Dor Chaim Nini, 20, who was also in the Givati Brigade.

“The entire nation of Israel is waiting for the return of the fallen soldiers so that they can be laid to rest in Israel,” he added.