Hamas hands over body it says is Israeli soldier held in Gaza since 2014

Israel on Sunday received the remains of a hostage in Gaza that Hamas says is the body of an Israeli soldier who was killed in 2014 and has been held in Gaza for the past 11 years.

Israel on Sunday received the remains of a hostage in Gaza that Hamas says is the body of an Israeli soldier who was killed in 2014 and has been held in Gaza for the past 11 years. His remains were the only ones held in Gaza since before the latest war between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas said that it found the body of the soldier, Hadar Goldin, in a tunnel in the enclave’s southernmost city of Rafah on Saturday. Goldin was killed on Aug. 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire took effect ending that year’s war between Israel and Hamas.

The return of his remains would be a significant development in the U.S.-brokered truce, which has faltered during the slow return of bodies of hostages and skirmishes between Israeli troops and militants in Gaza. It would also close a painful, 11-year saga for his family, where Goldin has become a national symbol.

The remains will be transferred to Israel and to the national forensic institute for identification. If the body is identified as Goldin’s, there will be four bodies of hostages remaining in Gaza.

At the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that holding the body for so long has caused “great agony of his family, which will now be able to give him a Jewish burial.”