Hamas' military wing made clear early this week that fighter surrender or weapons abandonment remain off the table. Mohammad Nazzal, a senior Hamas official abroad, rejected exile outside Gaza and urged mediators to intervene.

Turkey wasted no time seizing this as another diplomatic opportunity, with sources saying it is "working to ensure safe passage for approximately 200 'Gazan civilians' trapped in Rafah tunnels" – as if 200 civilians simply got stuck in underground passages.

The deteriorating relationship between Ankara and Jerusalem, sparked by Turkish arrest warrants and Israel's response, combined with Israeli opposition to Turkish participation in Gaza's multinational force, will feature in Jared Kushner's discussions with Netanyahu, though not as the central focus.

Washington's primary objective is stabilizing the ceasefire. Meeting this goal requires advancing to stage two of the Trump plan and generating implementation momentum. With everyone occupied by processes and mechanisms, reality on the ground will shift toward non-combat, enabling Trump to pursue his broader diplomatic ambitions.

From Israel's perspective, however, the ceasefire is not the end goal. Particularly not now, after recovering living hostages and most deceased remains. Eliminating enemy capabilities and removing weapons from the territory remain Israel's core objectives, which cannot be sacrificed to ceasefire demands or satisfied through cosmetic arrangements.

Furthermore, Israel's approach in Gaza will directly impact Hezbollah arrangements (and the reverse), leaving no room for creative half-measures that sound good but deliver nothing.

Even without this consideration, regional discourse is already showing such formulas emerging. Examples include attempts to limit disarmament definitions to offensive weapons only – excluding tunnels, personal arms, and other capabilities from discussion. Another involves establishing an "administrative committee" for civilian Gaza governance, supposedly without Hamas participation, when the terror group already influences personnel selection and will clearly control such governance as the Strip's dominant force.

Returning to the besieged in Rafah – their number remains unclear. Media reports citing Israeli sources estimate 150 to 200. Foreign press mentioned lower figures, while Hamas websites simply stated the military wing withholds information due to sensitivity, describing them as "Qassam elite" facing high risk "while contending with medical supply shortages, electricity deficits, and the need to secure tunnels after extensive war damage."

Hamas spokesmen have raised no claims about broken commitments on this matter. They frame the connection to recovering IDF soldier Hadar Goldin's remains through humanitarian considerations and stability interests.

Given these circumstances, Israel possesses every advantage to transform this incident into a powerful symbol of its Hamas dismantlement commitment. Time favors us here, and provided our forces can block attacks from the besieged or other directions, no rush exists. Regardless, this event's conclusion must be decisive – mass surrender, detention or terrorist deaths. Images and publicity carry value. This is how regimes fall. Exile, as some mediators suggest, while not inherently rejected, should only acceptable as a post-surrender, post-arrest step, never as a replacement.

A Al-Resalah Hamas website editorial characterized the besieged issue as testing Hamas' capacity for post-war challenges. "It combines military, diplomatic, and humanitarian aspects and conveys an important message to the Palestinian public and the world regarding Hamas's ability to protect its people and manage humanitarian crises, in an extremely complex environment and under international supervision." This equally tests Israeli determination, providing further reason Israel cannot accept any solution Hamas would claim as an achievement.

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Hadar enlisted in Givati and was accepted to the reconnaissance unit's basic training. He excelled throughout and reached his goal – team commander in reconnaissance. He also got engaged to his fiancée Edna, and the two set a wedding date.

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IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Givati Brigade Commander Col. Netanel Shamkeh will participate in the ceremony and deliver eulogies alongside family members, including parents Simcha and Leah, brothers Hami and Tzur, sister Ayelet, and Hadar's fiancée Edna Sarusi. Singer Idan Amedi, a family friend who accompanied them throughout their years of struggle, will also participate in the ceremony. The thousands attending the funeral procession will remain outside the cemetery and watch the ceremony on large screens that have been installed in advance.

Kfar Saba Mayor Rafi Saar said, "There are moments that words cannot describe. Lt. Hadar Goldin is laid to rest in his beloved homeland and in the city of Kfar Saba. The municipality and its residents warmly welcome the Goldin family. I send heartfelt condolences to the family, and we will continue to embrace and support them during these hours as well."

"Refrain from desecrating this sacred day"

Ahead of the funeral, the Goldin family issued an appeal to the media not to engage with Hadar's fall, kidnapping, and return in political or partisan contexts. "Hadar was returned to Israel 4,118 days after he fell defending the homeland he loved so much and from which he was kidnapped," the family's statement read. "Please refrain from desecrating this sacred day with political discourse surrounding Hadar's event."

The family requested that we focus on Hadar's positive legacy, as he expressed in a sentence he said during his life: "A person has two options in life – to deal with yourself or to do great things."

Instead of partisan discourse, the family asked to focus, at least today, "on the positive, the optimistic, and what unites all parts of Israeli society."

"Hadar Goldin's humble legacy was in the values he lived," they explained, quoting a sentence of Hadar's that has already become a symbol. "Hadar said an amazing sentence – 'A person has two options in life – to be self-centered or to do great things.'"

Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23, was a fallen hostage kidnapped by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge. He was held in captivity from August 1, 2014, for over 11 years. Hadar's parents, Leah and Simcha Goldin, fought for years for his return for burial in Israel. They launched the campaign to return the hostages long before Israel would understand its meaning.

Hadar was born in February 1991 in Eshar, a mixed settlement of religious and secular residents. He was the younger brother of the eldest daughter, Ayelet, and Hami. Hadar, the firstborn of twins, waited outside the womb for five full minutes until his twin brother Tzur came out. Together, they captured the hearts of kindergarten teachers and educators. Together, they learned to play instruments, draw, and sculpt. Together, they went to the Bnei Akiva movement and transitioned from members to counselors. Together, they attended the "Bnei David" preparatory program in Ali, a pre-military academy.

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Hadar Goldin, 23 at the time of his death, was a fallen captive soldier abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization during the operation. He had been held in captivity since August 1, 2014—more than 11 years. His parents, Leah and Simcha Goldin, waged a years-long battle for his return for burial in Israel, launching their campaign to bring home Israeli hostages long before most of the country fully grasped its significance.

Hadar was born in February 1991 in Ashhar, a mixed religious and secular community. He arrived as a younger brother to Ayelet and to Hemi. Hadar, the elder of twins, waited patiently for five minutes outside the womb until his twin brother, Tzur, was born. Together, the brothers won the hearts of their kindergarten teachers and instructors. They learned to play music, paint and sculpt, attended the Bnei Akiva youth movement—first as participants, later as counselors—and went on together to the Bnei David pre-military academy in Eli.

An outstanding officer

Hadar enlisted in the Givati Brigade and was accepted into the reconnaissance battalion. He excelled throughout his service and fulfilled his ambition of becoming a team commander in the elite unit. He was engaged to his fiancée, Edna, and the two had set a date for their wedding.

In June 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza. Hadar went into battle and never returned. He was killed and abducted during a ceasefire, in an operation to locate tunnels intended for the massacre of residents of southern Israel.

Declared fallen, his body remained in Gaza

On August 1, 2014, during combat with terrorists who emerged from a tunnel, the reconnaissance company commander, Maj. Benaya Sarel, Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Liel Gidoni were killed. Hadar was dragged into a nearby tunnel by terrorists. The IDF chief rabbi later declared him fallen in battle. His grave was established at the military cemetery in Kfar Saba, though his body was held in Gaza, untill now.

Hadar, through his smile, his paintings, his writings, and in the hearts of his family, students and soldiers, left behind a legacy rooted in love for humanity. He forbade his soldiers to curse, devoted himself to helping those in need, and did everything he could to bring together the diverse people of this land—religious and secular alike. "You have two options: either focus on yourself, or do something better," Hadar once said.

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The Israeli government confirmed Hamas' statement that the remains of Goldin, an officer in the Givati Brigade who was killed in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, were expected to be returned. On Sunday morning, a senior political official condemned the delay, calling it "a serious breach."

"Israel views the delay in returning the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who Hamas claims is in its possession, with the utmost severity," the official said. "Israel demands his immediate return."

"An entire nation is waiting"

Following Israel's confirmation of Hamas' announcement Saturday night, the Goldin family issued a statement: "An entire nation is waiting for Hadar to be brought home. This is a mission that must and can be fulfilled for the sake of all of us. The IDF chief of staff came to update us after Shabbat on the tremendous efforts being made to bring back the hostages, and we salute everyone involved in this national mission. We are waiting for official confirmation that Hadar has returned to Israel.

"No one in this country is ever left behind. We ask everyone to stay calm. Until it's final, it isn't over."

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The IDF said Sunday that the deceased hostage is now in Israel and on its way to the National Center of Forensic Medicine, and will receive in a military ceremony attended by the IDF chief rabbi.

Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Lt. Hadar Goldin is expected to be returned to Israel today.

An Israeli political source condemned the delay in returning Goldin, calling it a "serious violation." Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of seeking pretexts to violate the cease-fire and exploit the situation to launch attacks in Gaza.

According to Hamas' official statement, Goldin was found in one of the tunnels in the Yibna refugee camp in Rafah and are to be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross at 2 p.m. Sunday. Earlier in the day, the families of five other deceased hostages were notified about the return of the deceased hostage.

The terrorist organization claimed that the recovery of the deceased hostages was taking place under "complex and difficult conditions" and that recovery efforts are still ongoing. The announcement appeared to come in response to the criticism by an Israeli official over the delay in returning Goldin.

Hamas also blamed Israel for the ongoing clashes with its gunmen in Rafah, stressing that "the principle of surrender does not exist in the vocabulary of [its] military wing." The organization said that the continuation of the recovery operation required additional technical teams and equipment on the ground. It also called on mediators to ensure that the cease-fire holds and to prevent Israel from using "excuses" to breach it or to carry out attacks in Gaza.

Israel confirmed on Saturday that Hamas had located Lt. Hadar Goldin, an officer in the IDF Givati Brigade who fell during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. However, after the terrorist group delayed the process and failed to provide updates nearly a day later, an Israeli political source condemned the ongoing postponement as "a serious violation."

Media outlets affiliated with Hamas circulated photographs of six terrorists whose bodies were reportedly found in a Rafah tunnel on Saturday—the same tunnel from which Goldin's remains were said to have been recovered, according to Arab reports. Those channels hinted that the men belonged to Hamas' "Shadow Unit," which is tasked with guarding hostages and the remains of fallen soldiers.

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A senior Hamas source told Al Jazeera on Saturday that another deceased hostage had been located in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, claiming it is Lt. Hadar Goldin.

Goldin was captured and held by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. According to the report, he is the only one believed to have remained in the Rafah area. The same Hamas official added that six bodies were recovered from the location where the remains were found.

Earlier, Arab media outlets reported that Hamas operatives, together with a Red Cross team, had been searching in southern Rafah for other deceased hostages. The search efforts come amid revelations that hundreds of Hamas terrorists have been trapped in tunnels across the Gaza Strip, including in areas under Israeli control, according to senior Israeli officials quoted by The Wall Street Journal.

The announcement comes shortly after the Prime Minister's Office confirmed that the deceased hostage returned to Israel overnight was Lior Rodief, following identification by the National Center of Forensic Medicine in coordination with the Israel Police and the IDF Military Rabbinate.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an urgent meeting Tuesday afternoon after his testimony in court was cut short due to security developments.

Video: IDF forces delineating Yellow Line / Credit: IDF

Israel is examining a series of punishment measures against Hamas for repeated agreement violations. Some of the sanctions under consideration include moving the yellow line westward, meaning expanding Israeli-controlled territory; re-entering the Netzarim Corridor to restrict Palestinian movement; reducing aid convoys and limiting entry of goods; and continuing the closure of the Rafah crossing.

A first penalty step was already decided when Hamas operatives were banned from working with the Red Cross in Israeli-controlled areas. The move was approved earlier this week to locate fallen hostages.

Netanyahu already faces pressure from cabinet members, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to "let all hell break loose." Smotrich sent a letter to the prime minister stating, "I intend to demand that the prime minister order the IDF to immediately rearrest all the terrorists released to the West Bank in the hostage deal in response to Hamas's repeated violations."

Ben-Gvir wrote on X, "The fact that Hamas continues playing games and not immediately transferring all our fallen soldiers' bodies proves the terror organization still stands on its feet. The time has come to break those legs once and for all. Now we don't need to 'extract a price from Hamas' for the violations. We need to extract its very existence from it and destroy it completely – in accordance with the central objective defined for the war of revival. Mr. Prime Minister, enough hesitation – give the order!"

Another person who called on Netanyahu to respond forcefully was his main electoral rival and former prime minister, Naftali Bennett. "Not 'we'll settle accounts' and not 'painful response.' Hamas is cancer. Hamas must be destroyed," Bennett wrote.

"Not Learning from Mistakes"

The family of fallen hostage Hadar Goldin responded, "Hamas continues the psychological terror as in all 4,107 days they have held him, except this time Hamas made a mistake from which there will be no way back – this is an act of terror that Hamas is now doing personally and deliberately against US President Donald Trump. We are confident President Trump will respond uncompromisingly, especially in light of the ultimatum he set for the terror organization Hamas. Not only did Hamas not meet its commitment but also in its attempt to humiliate the most powerful man in the world."

"We call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to act according to his commitments, which were guaranteed by all the mediators, including Emir of Qatar Mohammed bin Thani, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Once again, the State of Israel, as has been its pattern for the past 11 years, does not learn from systematic past mistakes, 'pays in advance' to the terror organization Hamas for all its demands despite Hamas violating the agreement already in the first stage – to transfer all information on the location of the fallen soldiers, with all necessary efforts to find and return all the fallen."

"The family and the entire public will continue the uncompromising struggle to return to Israel's soil the heroic soldier Lt. Hadar Goldin. We call on the people of Israel to take to the streets and not give up until the return of the last fallen soldier immediately!"

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At the time I proposed that the written condition that would sit above every agreement should be that the first terrorist is released only after the last fallen soldier has been buried. Had we done that, we would not be facing this dilemma today.

Under the agreement the government signed, Hamas is supposed to return everyone within 72 hours. There were real sanctions regarding the living hostages and that is why they were brought back, but regarding the deceased  there was left a gap the size of Shalom Tower and it was obvious that Hamas would pass through it and squeeze the life out of us, keep assets we cannot obtain and we will now have to invent levers for that, moreover and this is the main point, Israel currently has no leverage at all over the return of the fallen.

We, the Goldin family, have been on this for 11 years, and the levers presented to us are ineffective because they are the same levers presented to us since the end of 2014. If those levers did not work for 11 years, someone has to convince me they will work now.

The only thing clear in this agreement is that the party running the business now is the US, and for me personally it is very, very difficult that Americans are handling the issue of the deceased hostages in this agreement. I do not see how the State of Israel, which must rebuild Israeli society, contributes to that, and that is my problem today.

I warned, and the disaster happened

For 11 years I have been fighting to bring my son, and I warned that if they did not bring Hadar and Oron Shaul in a proper manner in dealing with Hamas a disaster would happen, and the disaster happened. We fought for two years, we paid with 913 casualties from our best sons, and if they had listened to us, to the Goldin family, everything would have looked different.

Now it is clear we will continue to fight, and it is clear we will not stop until we bring Hadar and all the other deceased hostages, because if we leave them with the enemy, we have lost this war. No matter how many celebrations they hold or what they do, we lost this war because Hamas won, and in this agreement we enabled it that opening.

Now the role of the government of Israel is to show Israelis how it will close that gap, how it will bring the fallen and how we begin a new path. That is its mission, and in the past 24 hours I do not see that happening, only the opposite.

Professor Simcha Goldin is the father of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, a fallen IDF soldier held by the terrorist organization Hamas since August 2014.

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In an interview to Israel Radio on Sunday morning, Blum said, "They have both been returned [after crossing the Gaza border] several times. Mengistu was returned once and [Hisham] al-Sayed was returned twice. Now they [Hamas] have decided to hold them, in violation of all international laws."

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"The statements are incorrect, and it's especially bad when the Israeli negotiators spreads things that are untrue about Avera Mengistu. We might expect a person whose job it is to show sensitivity to get things right, and not add to the family's pain by making offensive remarks that are factually incorrect. We expect Mr. Blum to issue an immediate correction and apology," the family said.

Blum said he "apologized deeply" for his erroneous remarks about Mengistu having tried to cross the Gaza border before being taken captive, and said that he had actually been referring to the second Israeli being held by Hamas, Hisham al-Sayed.

Blum also addressed accusations made by Leah Goldin, the mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose remains have been held hostage by Hamas since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, that Blum was "deceiving" Goldin's family and the family of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was also killed in Operation Protective Edge and whose body Hamas is also holding captive.

Blum said that there was "progress" in the negotiations for the release of the soldiers' bodies.

Leah Goldin appeared on "Meet the Press" on Saturday evening and claimed that the Israeli government was abandoning its captive soldiers.

"For five years and three months, Hadar has been in the hands of Hamas, Oron too, and there has been a consistent policy of abandoning soldiers – simply not bringing them home. A week ago, [Israel] returned the body of a terrorist. 'Hamasnikim' wrapped him up in a flag and that was the worst of all, because in January 2017 the cabinet decided they would not return any bodies of Hamas terrorists."

"The families are being terribly deceived … [Israel] isn't asking for them back at all," Goldin alleged.

In response to Goldin's allegations, Blum told Israel Radio, "We are working with Hamas through a number of intermediaries. There is progress. More than one channel is active in arranging a deal."

According to Blum, "Hamas still isn't ready. There are big gaps between their insane demands and what Israel is willing to give. But we can definitely say that we're making progress … Unfortunately, Hamas still doesn't understand that something has changed and the Israeli public is not willing to repeat the deal for the release of [Gilad] Schalit."

Discussing the situation of captives Mengistu and al-Sayed, Blum said, "We believe that Mengistu is alive. We know that Hamas is holding him captive. Hamas is responsible for him, like it's responsible for Hisham al-Sayed. We believe that al-Sayed is also alive. … We are doing everything we can. They are both mentally ill."

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