KFAR SABA, Israel: Tens of thousands of people packed a cemetery in central Israel on Tuesday for the funeral of an Israeli soldier whose body had been held in Gaza for 11 years, overflowing and blocking surrounding streets as somber crowds stood with Israeli flags.
The burial of Lt. Hadar Goldin was a moment of closure for his family, which has traveled the world in a public campaign seeking his return. The huge turnout also reflected the importance of the case for the broader public in Israel, where Goldin became a household name during the struggle to bring his remains home after 4,117 days.
Hamas returned his remains on Sunday as part of the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal that began last month. The bodies of four hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the current war, are still in Gaza.
Goldin was 23 when he was killed two hours after a ceasefire took effect in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. For years before the Oct. 7 attack, posters with the faces of Goldin and Oron Shaul, another soldier whose body was abducted in the same war, stared down from intersections as their families campaigned for the return of their bodies.
Israel’s military long ago determined that Goldin had been killed based on evidence found in the tunnel where his body was taken, including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes. The military retrieved Shaul’s body in January.
