A glimpse of the secret operations Israel carried out to retrieve Hadar Goldin’s body over the past year and a half was revealed following the return of his remains to Israel on Sunday after 11 years in Gaza.

Over the course of a year and a half, since the IDF entered Rafah in May 2024, the IDF carried out operations in the city, aiming to locate Goldin’s remains in the tunnels and bring him for kevurah in Israel, Army Radio reported on Monday morning.

The first operation, a large-scale one, began immediately after IDF forces entered Rafah. According to the report, despite the tremendous efforts invested in the operation, including many IDF units—engineering forces, intelligence efforts, and special forces—who spent long periods underground, and the use of countless advanced operational capabilities, the operation did not succeed and the burial place was not located.

A new operation was launched more recently. Channel 14 reported that over the past six months, IDF soldiers dug in the area where Goldin’s body was eventually located and last week reached a point just a few meters away from his body. At that moment, they received an order to stop the work and withdraw at least one kilometer from the site.

To their great astonishment, a few hours later, they saw Hamas terrorists and Red Cross representatives approaching that same point and extracting Goldin’s body.

“We worked for half a year, and when we got to the moment right before the extraction, we were prevented from doing it. Total frustration among the soldiers,” said one of the soldiers who participated in the digging.

In recent weeks, Hamas terrorists indicated a location in an open area of about 300 square meters, claiming that Goldin was buried there, and yesterday the body was indeed removed from a tunnel in the area. The IDF had dug a massive trench to reach this tunnel, and special forces even entered it for searches and sweeps. However, a specific bend that extended from the tunnel—where the body was hidden—has not been searched.

A senior IDF official estimated, “If we had remained in Rafah and continued searching intensively through all the remaining tunnels in Rafah, we would have ultimately found it. It was a matter of time.”

Channel 12 reported that in a recent meeting, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir referred to the search efforts for Goldin’s body: “We carried out heroic operations to bring him back.”

Hundreds of soldiers operated inside underground passages and sifted soil, risking their lives in what Zamir described as “excavations like in archaeological digs.”

The IDF spokesperson stated, “IDF forces exerted great effort to locate the fallen Lt. Hadar Goldin. The process of returning him for burial in Israel was complex and extended over a long period.  All information on the matter will be presented to his family and then to the public.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)