Soldier Oron Shaul, whose body was recovered from Gaza, laid to rest in Israel
President apologizes it took so long to bring home soldier who was killed and captured by Hamas in 2014, vows to bring back all 94 hostages still in the Strip

IDF Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was killed and captured by the Hamas terror group in 2014, was laid to rest on Monday after his remains were recovered from the Gaza Strip in a clandestine operation over the weekend.
Among the thousands of people who came to pay their respects at the ceremony were President Isaac Herzog and National Unity party leader MK Benny Gantz, the latter of whom was the IDF chief of staff when Oron was killed during the 2014 Gaza war, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.
Speaking at the funeral, Herzog asked for forgiveness from Shaul’s family — his mother Zehava, and brothers Aviram and Ofek — “on behalf of the entire nation.”
“Dear Shaul family, in the name of the entire State of Israel, I ask forgiveness — for the years of torture you went through, for the waiting for your son and brother to return,” he said. “Years that we did not fulfill our mission, our responsibility — to return him here, to the cradle of his birth.”
Shaul was buried in his hometown of Poria Illit near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, next to his father Herzl Shaul, who died of cancer in 2016 without realizing his wish to see the return of his son’s remains. Herzl spent his final months holding a daily vigil outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, calling for the government to bring Oron’s body home.
“A decade has passed, and we are still forced to send our best sons and daughters to fight against those abominable enemies,” Herzog added at the funeral.

The announcement of the recovery of Shaul’s body came shortly before a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, bringing a halt to the 15-month-long war in Gaza, which began when thousands of terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages on October 7, 2023.
The president referenced the return on Sunday night of Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen from Hamas captivity, all of whom were kidnapped during the 2023 massacre.
He vowed to bring home all of the 94 hostages still held in Gaza — “down to the last one” — including Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, Israeli citizens who have been held in Gaza for years, and the body of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, who was also killed in 2014.
“We cannot leave even one household in Israel in this state of waiting,” he said.

“I waited for so many years for you to come home from captivity,” mother Zehava said at the funeral. “I never believed this day would come.”
Shaul’s brother Ofek also spoke at the funeral: “My Oron, after so many years passed I can’t believe it is happening… I can’t absorb that you are here and we are parting from you.”
Ofek spoke of his dreams that his brother would return alive and well, and his nightmares in which he would never return.
“Today our difficult journey comes to an end,” he said. “We need to be happy that at last you are buried.”
Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman and Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofer Sofer also attended the ceremony.
More than a decade later, a mother finally buries her son, as Oron Shaul is buried in Israel, after IDF recovered his body from Gaza.
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The IDF announced that Shaul’s body had been recovered and returned to Israel on Sunday morning, hours before the Gaza ceasefire took effect.
The operation to recover the body was carried out jointly by the IDF and the Shin Bet security agency, with several special forces units including the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit and another elite force in the Military Intelligence Directorate.
Shaul was killed on July 20, 2014, when troops of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion entered Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood in an M-113 armored personnel carrier. The APC got stuck in one of the neighborhood’s narrow streets, and during attempts to extract it, it came under attack by Hamas operatives launching anti-tank missiles.
Seven soldiers were killed in the incident, including Shaul, whose body was dragged away from the scene by Hamas operatives.
In another incident later in the 2014 war, Hamas captured the body of Lt. Goldin. His body remains held in the Strip. The IDF said Sunday it was making every effort to recover Goldin’s body as well.
Amy Spiro contributed to this report.