State to inform family of missing soldier before giving up terrorists for burial

Following High Court petition, government says it will notify relatives of IDF serviceman whose remains are held by Hamas 72 hours ahead of returning any bodies

The government will inform the family of an Israeli soldier whose remains are held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip before it returns the bodies of terrorists to their families for burial, the State Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The development came after the family of IDF serviceman Hadar Goldin petitioned the High Court of Justice Tuesday to prevent the state from giving up the body of Hamas terrorist Aziz Awizat for burial.

During the summer 2014 Gaza war, Hamas captured the remains of two slain Israeli soldiers, Goldin and Oron Shaul. Their families have accused the government of not doing enough to bring their loved ones home.

The state committed to giving 72 hours’ notice to the Goldin family before returning the bodies of terrorists to their families.

2nd.-Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba was captured August 1, 2014 in the southern Gaza Strip by Hamas gunmen, on the 25th day of Operation Protective Edge.

Awizat, serving a 30-year term for plotting to blow up buildings in Jerusalem by tampering with gas lines, died while being treated at Asaf Harofeh hospital for a heart ailment last week.

A resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Awizat was arrested in 2014 and convicted of trying to set off explosions in a number of buildings housing Israelis in East Jerusalem by damaging their gas lines.

At the beginning of the week the Goldin family organized a demonstration outside their family home in Kfar Saba in which they demanded that any agreement between Israel and Hamas on the rehabilitation of Gaza include the return of the remains Goldin and Shaul.

Earlier this month Israel denied rejecting a proposed prisoner swap with Hamas, after the Palestinian terror group said it had offered numerous deals for an exchange.

Hamas is also believed to be holding two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza of their own volition, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

The Hamas claim came after the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported last week that a Western country was brokering talks — initiated by Hamas — between Israel and the Gaza-based terror group.

The Haaretz daily reported at the beginning of May that Hamas has in recent months repeatedly expressed willingness through several channels to enter into talks with Israel over a long-term ceasefire.

The report said that in return for such a truce, Hamas wants Israel to significantly ease the blockade over Gaza, approve large-scale infrastructure projects, and possibly agree to a prisoner swap deal.