First Yom Hazikaron With Burial, Goldin Family Speaks of Closure

On Israel’s Yom Hazikaron today, the family of Lt. Hadar Goldin marked the day for the first time at his grave, months after his remains were returned from Gaza. In an interview Tuesday morning with KAN Reshet Bet, his sister Ayelet said, “This is the first Remembrance Day that we can be a bereaved family.”

Goldin was killed in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge while searching for terror tunnels in Rafah. His body was held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza for over 11 years, becoming one of the most prominent cases in Israel surrounding soldiers whose remains were not returned. His remains were located in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood and brought back to Israel in November 2025, allowing the family to finally bury him.

For years, the Goldin family marked Remembrance Day without a grave to visit. Ayelet described the shift this year as both emotional and disorienting. “Everything is very mixed and very powerful,” she said, describing the range of feelings surrounding the moment.

“Most of all, I have to say that there is a feeling of great exaltation and excitement,” she added, referring to the return and burial of her brother. The moment, she said, carries a sense of closure alongside the grief.

She contrasted this year with previous Memorial Days, when the family lived with uncertainty. “For so many years we have been different, we would stand there on Remembrance Day and not know where my brother was… now that he is here, the intensity is strong,” she said.

The return of Goldin’s remains marked a turning point not only for the family but also for those who served alongside him. “Today, when he is here, we and his friends, and everyone who was part of the military, feel this sense of excitement,” Ayelet said, adding that the moment has deepened her gratitude for those who supported the family throughout the years.

At the same time, life continues. Ayelet said she recently became a grandmother, her eldest child’s son, who, like Hadar, served in the IDF’s Givati Brigade reconnaissance unit.

“Life goes on, and Hadar lives by our side, albeit from above,” she said. “He doesn’t answer when we talk to him, but he lives with us, and he is definitely here.”