Israel has received the body of a soldier held in Gaza for more than a decade after he was killed in an ambush by Hamas fighters in 2014 during the last major ground assault in the enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that the remains were handed over to Israeli forces in Gaza by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after Hamas transferred the body to the aid organisation.

Formal identification of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, has not yet been confirmed by Israeli authorities.

At the start of a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said holding the body for so long has caused “great agony for his family, which will now be able to give him a Jewish burial”.

“Lieutenant Hadar Goldin fell in heroic combat during Operation Protective Edge ,” Isra

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