Hadar Goldin finally laid to rest
The long-awaited funeral was a moment of closure and reckoning for Goldin's relatives and for the country.
(TIMES OF ISRAEL) Lt. Hadar Goldin, an Israel Defence Forces officer killed in Gaza in 2014 and held there by Hamas for more than a decade, was laid to rest on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands, including the IDF chief of staff.
The long-awaited funeral was a moment of closure and reckoning for Goldin’s relatives and, as noted in their eulogies, for the country. For years, Goldin’s family was at times a lonely voice campaigning for the release of his body from Gaza, along with that of fellow fallen soldier Oron Shaul. That cause was greatly amplified after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, when Goldin was included among the more than 250 hostages whose return became a national mission.
Still, Goldin’s family waited through two more painful years, as hundreds of hostages, living and dead, including Shaul, were returned to Israel, with no guarantee or timetable for their son’s return. Finally, on Sunday, his body came back.
“Hadar, we waited for you 11 years, it’s a long time,” Leah Goldin, his mother, said in her eulogy at the Kfar Saba military cemetery, her voice breaking.
“A long time.”
The eulogies, including those delivered by Goldin’s parents and siblings, his commander, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and singer and actor Idan Amedi, shared memories of Goldin. Some wore T-shirts with Goldin’s picture. They also took the government to task for the extraordinarily long time it took to return his body.
Another returned hostage Lior Rudaeff was also finally laid to rest. Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak’s deputy security coordinator was killed on the morning of October 7, 2023, and his body was abducted to Gaza. For months, his family held out hope that he had been kidnapped alive, until the IDF confirmed in May 2024 that the 61-year-old had been slain in the initial attack. He was posthumously recognised by the IDF as a fallen soldier with the rank of warrant officer in the reserves.
At the funeral on Sunday of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, whose body was returned by Hamas from Gaza last week, the fallen soldier’s father demanded justice be done “with those responsible for October 7, 2023 catastrophe,” as he and President Isaac Herzog called for a state commission of inquiry.
Thousands gathered at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul cemetery for the funeral of US-Israeli national Chen, a tank crew member who was killed near Nahal Oz during the Hamas-led onslaught. Burying his son, Ruby Chen called out the politicians “who were supposed to be the responsible adults and the top officials responsible”.
“We will pursue them all and will not stop until they are required, under oath, to give every Israeli answers and to take responsibility – all within the framework of a state commission of inquiry,” said Chen.
“A whole nation now stands and waits for answers, waiting for justice to be both seen and done with those responsible for the catastrophe.”
Hundreds of people gathered at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery on Friday to pay their last respects to slain Israeli-American hostage soldier Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra, whose body was returned to Israel on Sunday evening. Neutra, 21, a tank platoon commander in the 7th Armoured Brigade’s 77th Battalion, was killed on October 7 while battling the Hamas invasion and his body was abducted to Gaza.
The only surviving member of Neutra’s tank crew, Sgt. Nimrod Cohen – who was captured alive and released last month along with the rest of the remaining living hostages – attended his funeral.
The body of Tanzanian national Joshua Loitu Mollel was also returned to Israel after forensic experts completed the identification. Mollel, 21, an agricultural intern at Nahal Oz, was seized alive, then murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7, and his body was taken to Gaza.
IDF Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel, whose body was also returned from Gaza, was laid to rest last week, with hundreds of mourners attending the ceremony held at the Kfar Saba military cemetery.
Four families still wait for closure as their loved ones’ bodies remain in the Gaza Strip, leaving them unable to bury their fathers, sons and siblings. The families of these final four – Meny Godard, Ran Gvili, Dror Or and Sudthisak Rinthalak – remain in limbo, as Hamas claims it is currently unable to reach some and does not know where others are. Israeli officials have said they do not believe all the terror group’s claims on the matter.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with White House adviser Jared Kushner at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday morning as Washington and Jerusalem continue to coordinate the ceasefire in Gaza and efforts to bring back the remaining slain hostages held by Hamas. An Israeli government spokesperson said that Netanyahu and Kushner discussed disarming Hamas, demilitarising Gaza and ensuring Hamas does not have a future role in Gaza – all central components of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
The meeting of senior Israeli and US figures came as talks are ongoing between the Trump administration and Israel over how to deal with the 100 to 200 Hamas terrorists who are currently holed up in tunnels in IDF-controlled territory beneath the city of Rafah.
Questions also remain on the establishment of an international stabilisation force in Gaza, to be deployed under the second phase of Trump’s plan. The US is currently seeking to enshrine the second phase of the plan into international law via a UN Security Council vote.
The US is also working on normalising ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, with Trump saying last month he hoped Riyadh would “very soon” join other Muslim countries that signed the 2020 Abraham Accords normalising ties with Israel. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to visit the White House on Tuesday next week, though Riyadh is believed to be prioritising defence cooperation and investment with Washington, as well as a viable path toward Palestinian statehood, before warming relations with Israel.
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