Israeli army scandal: How Hadar Goldin’s body remained in Hamas tunnels for a decade?

The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz revealed that Goldin’s body was located in a tunnel just minutes from the Gaza Strip’s separation barrier from the 1948 occupied territories and about 2 kilometers from the location where he had been captured.

According to Haaretz, the body of this captive remained near the army’s deployment area for over a decade without the Israeli army obtaining any information about it. In fact, the body had stayed in the same tunnel from the very day he was captured.

The commander of the Yahalom unit, which had been searching for Goldin, claimed that the tunnel network they investigated was extensive, stretching about 10 kilometers.

Haaretz further reported that the Israeli army, accompanied by a group of Israeli journalists, visited the location of Goldin’s body in Hamas tunnels. There, they faced critical questions from journalists regarding the army’s failure to locate and retrieve Goldin’s body. It was the Al-Qassam brigades (the military wing of Hamas) who, under a prisoner exchange agreement, retrieved Goldin’s body from the tunnel and sent it to Tel Aviv via the Red Cross.

The Hebrew newspaper noted that the Yahalom unit commander admitted that, during the years after Goldin’s capture, the army did not have clear and accurate information about his hiding place.

According to Haaretz, one journalist asked the army official, “In the end, the army failed to find Goldin’s body, and it was Hamas who brought it out.” Another journalist added, “The search operation lasted a year and a half, using the best forces and resources, with many efforts made, yet they were unable to locate him.”

In response, the Israeli army officer had to admit, “Unfortunately, it was not us who retrieved Hadar, but Hamas. However, I am fully confident that the direct actions we took forced Hamas to eventually return him.”

The Hebrew newspaper also reported that Israeli journalists tried to justify the army’s failure by speculating that Goldin’s body had been hidden behind a small wall in the tunnel. However, this explanation implied that the Israeli army did not know the exact location from which the body was removed.

Finally, Haaretz wrote that one journalist asked the army officer why the army had not publicly acknowledged its failure in this mission. He replied: “If from today onward an article titled ‘The Army Failed’ is published, in my view, that would be an unpatriotic action on your part.”