Israel: Abducted IDF Officer Declared Dead
Ynet: IDF Declares Missing Officer Hadar Goldin Dead
Missing IDF officer Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, said to have been captured by Hamas, was declared dead by Chief Military Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Raffi Peretz on Saturday, at 11:25pm.
The Givati commander died in combat on Friday, August 1, 2014, in Rafah when a terrorist emerged from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip and detonated himself near an IDF force, killing another officer and a soldier from Givati Brigade - Major Benaya Sarel and Staff Sergeant Liel Gidoni.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon arrived at the Goldin family home in Kfar Saba accompanied by the head of the IDF’s Human Resources Branch, Maj.-Gen. Orna Barbivai and the Chief Military Rabbi, to deliver the news.
The army said the Chief Military Rabbi considered halacha, medical and other relevant considerations, as well as findings from the battlefield, before making the decision. The family was told there were enough pathological findings at the scene to declare Hadar’s death, and these findings also allow his burial.
