Israel urges United Nations to enforce Resolution 2474 and return remains held by Hamas

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, joined Lea Goldin, the mother of Lt. Hadar Goldin, at a New York press briefing to press the United Nations and its member states to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 2474 and to secure the return of remains and missing persons held in Gaza.

Lea Goldin said her son, Hadar Goldin, was killed and abducted by Hamas during a ceasefire on Aug. 1, 2014, and that his body has been held in Gaza for nearly 11 years. "When the United Nations passed a resolution, it must mean something," she said, calling the failure to enforce Resolution 2474 a "moral" failure and urging the U.N. and the United States to implement the resolution so families can bury their dead.

Danon framed the issue as a universal moral obligation, saying that Hamas "steals the bodies of our fallen heroes and turns them into bargaining chips" and describing the practice as an "economy of death." He said Israel will "never stop fighting to bring our people home in life or in death."

Goldin cited the 2019 Security Council adoption of Resolution 2474 and said its principles have been "forgotten" and enforcement has been "nonexistent." She called on the United Nations and member states to "demand the return of the missing, demand accountability, demand the dignity that every human being deserves in life and in death." She added, "I call on the United Nations and The United States to return my son, Hadar, to be buried in his homeland, Israel, by implementing resolution 2474."

Speakers repeatedly framed the issue as distinct from normal political negotiation. Danon said the right to bury the dead is "not a political issue. It is a moral issue, a universal" one shared across religions and cultures. Goldin described the continued withholding of remains as inflicting prolonged uncertainty and grief on dozens of Israeli families.

There was no formal action taken at the briefing. The speakers urged U.N. organs and member states to treat Resolution 2474 as actionable policy rather than symbolic language and said they expected the issue to be raised at a Security Council session later the same day.

The briefing combined personal testimony with diplomatic appeal: Goldin recounted the family's loss and cited the 2019 resolution by number; Danon outlined Israel's public position and moral argument and invited engaged responses from the international community. The speakers did not announce a specific diplomatic mechanism or legal step to compel compliance with the resolution.

Looking ahead, Goldin asked that the U.N. and member states enforce the resolution "not selectively, not symbolically, but seriously." Danon reiterated Israel's commitment to recovering those taken in conflict "in life or in death."