Jerusalem: Israel said Friday it recovered the body of a deceased hostage identified as Meny Godard held by militants in the Gaza Strip. After completing the identification process, officials notified the family of Godard that his remains had been returned for burial, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Godard’s body was handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza on Thursday night and later transferred to Israel, where forensic experts confirmed his identity.
Godard, 73, and his wife were killed outside their home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. His body was taken to Gaza. He was pronounced dead on August 12, 2023 and leaves behind four children and seven grandchildren. His wife, the late Ayelet Goddard, was also murdered in an attack on the Kibbutz. In a statement, the said that it shares the family’s grief and continues to invest all efforts in the return of the deceased abductees.
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Hamas, the IDF said, is required to fulfill its part of the agreement and make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages to their families and for a proper burial. Earlier this week, the Israeli forces received from the Red Cross in Gaza the remains of a hostage whose body was held by Hamas for the past 11 years, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said. On Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported, Hamas announced it was handing over the body of Goldin, an army officer killed during Israel’s 2014 Gaza war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed the remains were believed to be Goldin’s. At the start of his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that over the 11 years Hamas held Goldin’s body, “successive Israeli governments made great efforts to bring him back, amid the deep anguish of his family, who will now finally be able to lay him to rest in Israel.”
According to al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, Goldin’s body was found on Saturday in a tunnel in the Yebna refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza. This is the first reported recovery operation in Rafah since a ceasefire took effect on October 10. The city remains largely under Israeli control.