Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Israel on Tuesday for the funeral of an Israeli soldier whose body had been held hostage in Gaza for 11 years, overflowing from the cemetery and blocking surrounding streets as crowds stood somberly with Israeli flags.

The burial of Lt. Hadar Goldin was a moment of closure for his family, which has traveled the world in a public campaign seeking his return.

The huge turnout also reflected the importance of the case for the broader public in Israel, where Goldin became a household name during the struggle to bring his remains home after 4,117 days.

Hamas returned his remains on Sunday as part of the Trump-brokered ceasefire deal that began last month.

The bodies of four hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the current war, are still in Gaza.

Goldin was 23 when he was killed two hours after a ceasefire took effect in the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

For years before the October 7 attack, posters with the faces of Goldin and Oron Shaul, another soldier whose body was abducted in the same war, stared down from intersections as their families campaigned for the return of their bodies.

Israel’s military long ago determined that Golding had been killed based on evidence found in the tunnel where his body was taken, including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes.

The military retrieved Shaul's body in January.

"Hadar was special in the way he touched people, and you, this large audience, are the proof of that," Goldin’s father, Simcha, said as he stood next to his grave.

Eulogies from Goldin's siblings, parents, and former fiancée at his funeral never mentioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also prime minister when Goldin was kidnapped and for most of the period since.

They continuously thanked the Israeli military, including reserve soldiers, who tirelessly searched for Goldin’s body over the years.

Netanyahu did not attend the funeral, though Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir gave a eulogy on behalf of the military.

AP video shot by: Shlomo Mor