Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier feared abducted by Hamas Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, was determined to have been killed in action during Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, an army statement said on Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
"A special committee led by the Israel Defence Forces Chief Rabbi, announced the death of the IDF infantry officer of the Givati Brigade, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, who was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday, August 1, 2014," part of the army statement said, the AP reported.
The military announced early Sunday that 23-year-old Hadar Goldin of the Givati infantry brigade had been killed in battle on Friday, according to the AP. Israel's defense minister, along with the chief military rabbi, met with the soldier's family at their home in the town of Kfar Saba.
The Israeli military had previously said it believed the soldier was grabbed in a Hamas ambush about an hour after an internationally brokered cease-fire took effect Friday morning, the AP reported. Hamas on Saturday distanced itself from the soldier's alleged capture, which had prompted widespread international condemnation.
United States President Barack Obama, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and others had called for his immediate and unconditional release, according to the AP.
For Israel, the capture of a soldier or civilian by Palestinian militants is a nightmare scenario with far-reaching implications, the AP reported. Israel has gone to great lengths in the past to get back its captured soldiers.
In 2011, it traded over a thousand Palestinian prisoners, many involved in deadly attacks on civilians, for a single Israeli soldier who had been captured by Hamas-allied militants in 2006, according to the AP.
The capture of two soldiers in a cross-border operation by Lebanon's Hezbollah gunmen in 2006 sparked a 34-day war between the Iranian-backed militant Shiite group and Israel, the AP reported.
Soon after the soldier was believed abducted on Friday, Israel conducted extensive searches in the territory and deployed heavy fire that killed scores of Palestinians, according to the AP.
