Missing soldier Lt. Goldin declared killed in action, to be laid to rest Sunday

The funeral is to be held at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday at the military cemetery in Kfar Saba.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, BEN HARTMAN
Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin. (photo credit: Courtesy)
Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The IDF spokesman on Sunday morning announced the death of IDF officer Lt. Hadar Goldin, who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
At 11:25 p.m. on Saturday, the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, Brigadier Gen. Rafi Peretz, declared Goldin dead.
 
The decision was made according to the findings of a special board, headed by Peretz, who considered medical, halachic and other relevant considerations.
The funeral for Lt. Hadar Goldin was scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday at the military cemetery in Kfar Saba.
A message was delivered to the family by the Head of Personnel, Major General Orna Barbibay and Peretz.
 
Earlier Saturday, Lt. Hadar Goldin's family saw the news that the IDF was beginning to withdraw from Gaza without Hadar, who they discovered was reportedly captured by Hamas just before Shabbat began.
For Hadar’s father, Simcha Goldin, the news sounded like a rumor, fantasy, something unthinkable that could not come to pass.
“I served in the reserves until I was 50 and was a battalion commander, and it’s unthinkable to me that the IDF would abandon one of its fighters. My commander in the Northern Command was [Chief of Staff] Benny Gantz and there is no way that he would give the IDF the order to withdraw from any place when a soldier is still there,” Simcha said Saturday night.
Hadar, an officer in Palsar Givati, an elite reconnaissance unit of the infantry brigade, got engaged a few months ago to his girlfriend, Edna. His family said he made the decision to get engaged shortly after the kidnapping of the three teens in Gush Etzion, and that they were working on some of the preparations for his wedding when they received the news he was missing in action and feared kidnapped.