The parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held by Hamas since he was killed in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, visited the Eshkol region next to the Gaza border on Sunday in a show of solidarity with the area's residents and to cement their son's connection to the land he gave his life to protect. On Aug. 1, 2014, a Hamas terrorist cell emerged from an attack tunnel in the Rafah area and killed Goldin and two of his comrades while they were on a mission to locate Hamas tunnels. The attackers managed to snatch Goldin's body with them back into the tunnel. The deputy commander of Goldin's unit led his team in pursuit, and recovered several items that confirmed Goldin's death, but his body was not recovered. Sunday's visit was the first time the Goldins have visited the area since their son's death. Goldin's father, Simha, a professor of the history of the people of Israel, gave a lecture to local students. "Before we talk about humanitarian solutions for Gaza, we have to discuss the humanitarian issue of returning the bodies of Israeli soldiers to Israel," Simha Goldin said. "One should hinge on the other." Leah, Goldin's mother, said, "Hadar was killed here. There is a sense of a shared fate." After the lecture, the Goldins were taken on a tour of the border and heard a defense briefing on the current tunnel threat. "The State of Israel needs to learn from Hadar's death and not repeat its mistakes," Leah Goldin told the Eshkol Regional Council chief security officer. "It is time to change the operational perception. There are enough smart people in the IDF whom I trust to devise a solution, even if it is technological. Hadar's death should teach us that we must not be afraid. That is what Hadar would have said and that is what he would want. There is a challenge right now, to find a solution to the tunnels. I believe that if they work right, they will find a solution."
Parents of soldier killed in Gaza empathize with border residents
Parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held by Hamas since 2014, visit Gaza border area for first time since his death • Before we talk about humanitarian solutions for Gaza, we have to discuss returning bodies of soldiers, says father.
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