The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, handed over the body of Israeli army officer Hadar Goldin to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Goldin had been captured in Rafah during the 2014 war on the Gaza Strip and was announced dead this past Sunday.

The al-Qassam had previously confirmed that the handover was part of the Al-Aqsa Flood detainee/captive exchange deal, clarifying that its crews had given the Red Cross the body of the officer, who had been found a day prior in a tunnel in the Yibna camp in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. 

The bodies of six martyrs from the al-Qassam Brigades' "Shadow Unit" were also recovered from the same location where the Israeli officer's body was found.

Palestinian Resistance marks symbolic victory in Goldin mystery

The Israeli government announced it received the remains, noting that it would immediately begin the necessary examinations to confirm his identity.

Goldin, a lieutenant and company commander in the Givati Brigade, was captured during the ground battles in Rafah in August 2014 as part of Operation Protective Edge, and since then, the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus has repeatedly failed over the course of 11 years to locate his position or recover him by force.

The fate of the captured officer had remained unknown ever since, with no confirmation of whether he was alive or dead, a fact that stands as an additional victory for the Palestinian Resistance.

In a telling sign of the scale of the Israeli failure, Israeli media published images showing how occupation forces had conducted extensive digging operations in the very tunnel where Goldin was held during the past summer, yet were ultimately unable to locate him.