Israel confirms body received from Gaza is missing soldier

The body returned from Gaza on Sunday has been identified as Hadar Goldin, a soldier killed in Gaza in 2014, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

Goldin "fell in battle and was abducted in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge," the prime minster's office said in its statement.

The prime minster's office said Goldin's family was notified "that their loved one had been returned to Israel and his identification had been completed."

"The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Goldin family and all the families of the abducted soldiers," the prime minster's office said in the statement. "The Government and the entire Israeli Defense Forces are determined, committed and working tirelessly to return all of our abducted soldiers to a proper burial in their own country."

-ABC News' Jordana Miller

The Red Cross handed over the coffin of a deceased Israeli -- believed to be officer Hadar Goldin, who was killed during the 2014 Gaza war -- to the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

The body will be transferred to Israel and then to the Ministry of Health's National Center for Forensic Medicine, the statement said.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Somayeh Malekian

The Red Cross is now on its way to the meeting point in the southern Gaza Strip to collect what are believed to be the remains of Israeli officer Hadar Goldin, according to a joint statement by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency.

At the beginning of his cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed preparations for receiving the body believed to be that of Goldin, who was killed in 2014.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian and Jordana Miller

Hamas said Sunday it had recovered and would return to Israel the body of dead Israeli officer Hadar Goldin -- one of five deceased hostages still believed to be in Gaza.

Hamas said in a statement that Goldin's body was found Saturday in a tunnel near the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Hamas said it would return the body to Israel on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time -- 7 a.m. ET.

An Israeli security official confirmed the estimated return time, telling ABC News the Israel Defense Forces expected to receive the body.

Goldin's death predated Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel's subsequent war in Gaza.

Goldin was killed during the 2014 war in Gaza, just hours after the implementation of a ceasefire intended to end the conflict.

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian, Samy Zyara, Nasser Atta and Jordana Miller