Conflict -- Funerals

"What we know for sure was that one suicide bomber and at least three or four other gunmen came out of a tunnel. One blew himself up, killing two on the spot, and the others were shooting -- they grabbed Hadar [Lt.Hadar Goldin, 23] and snatched him down into the tunnel."
"We don't know if he was alive and wounded, or dead at this time. Only in the aftermath, with the forensic investigation, were we able to conclude that he was killed."
Leiutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, Israeli military spokesman

Parts of Lt. Hadar Goldin's body were found within the tunnel from which Hamas terrorists had made their way from Gaza into Israel, for a surprise attack on Israeli soldiers located near a kibbutz at Rafah. Late on Monday there was a funeral for Lt Goldin. There was no body in the coffin, just a funeral to which people from across Israel streamed to pay their respects.

The search for the presumed abducted young military man was called off on Saturday when it was realized that part of his remains were present in the tunnel where a squad of Hamas terrorists had emerged from

He was buried in the small Israeli town of Kfar Saba close to Tel Aviv, in a local cemetery. His twin brother, Tzur, gave an eulogy standing close to their parents and his siblings. Between him and his twin, he said, "no words were necessary to know and understand. We were perfectly connected. I will not give up -- we will both live and never separate." 

Crowds outside cemetery where 2nd. Lt. Hadar Goldin was brought to rest. Photo by Tomer Appelbaum

It is more or less accepted that part of Lt. Goldin's remains may have been taken by the retreating Hamas members, after a suicide bomber had blown himself up and Lt. Goldin with him. Only parts of his body were discovered in the tunnel, subsequently confirmed as his through DNA tests. Hamas may, at some future date, offer to return what is left of the remains of Lt. Goldin in exchange for hundreds of Hamas prisoners.

This is their modus operandi.

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  Friends and relatives seen mourning over the grave of Staff Sergeant Liel Gidoni, during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, on August 3, 2014. Gideoni was killed in combat on Friday in the Gaza Strip. (photo credit: Hadas Parush/Flash90)
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  An Israeli soldier standing on top of a tank in a staging area near the Israel Gaza border, Saturday, August 2, 2014 (photo: AP/Tsafrir Abayov)
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  Moroccans hold placards and wave flags during a demonstration, against Israel's military campaign in Gaza, organized by the Islamic group Al Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality) in Casablanca on August 3, 2014. (photo credit: AFP/FADEL SENNA)
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  Israelis gather outside the Golding home in the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba on August 2, 2014 to show support for the family of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in Gaza on Friday morning (photo credit: Flash90)
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  Merkava tanks lined up outside Gaza on August 2, 2014. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
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  Relatives and friends of Major Benaya Sarel who was was killed in combat on Friday in the Gaza Strip seen mourning over his grave during a funeral at the old Jewish cemetery in Hebron, August 3, 2014 (photo credit: Flash90)
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  Demonstrators hold French national flags and boards reading messages of peace in front of a Paris church as they take part in a demonstration gathering Jews and Muslims to advocate peace and fraternity in the context of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, August 3, 2014. The signs read (from L) "Tolerance", "Love" and "Salem Shalom". photo credit: AFP/PIERRE ANDRIEU)
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  A woman overcome by emotion stands between dead bodies and wounded Palestinians outside a UN run school in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014 (photo credit: AP/Hatem Ali)
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  An Israeli soldier kisses his girlfriend before he returns to his unit in a staging area near the Israel Gaza border, Saturday, August 2, 2014 (photo credit: AP/Tsafrir Abayov)
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  Zur Goldin (R), brother of Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin, and other family members talk to the media outside their home in the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba on August 2, 2014. (Photo by Flash90)