NEW YORK - The World Jewish Congress has launched a petition asking the International Committee of the Red Cross to press Hamas to return the bodies of IDF Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, 23, and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul, 20, who were killed in action during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014.
“The World Jewish Congress is calling upon the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to act on its stated mission to ensure ‘humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence’ and help bring these brave young men home to Israel for proper burial,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer. “Burying one’s dead is a humanitarian right and a religious right, and the rights of the Shaul and Goldin families remain violated. Please join the World Jewish Congress in calling on the ICRC to use all available diplomatic channels to right this egregious wrong. There is strength in our unity." 
Shaul was killed on July 20, 2014 when he left his armored personnel carrier to repair the vehicle when Hamas fired on his unit and took him prisoner. On August 1, 2014, Hamas kidnapped Goldin, 23, following a deadly ambush in southern Gaza. The attack came an hour and a half into an agreed upon humanitarian ceasefire which had been brokered by then US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The IDF has determined that both soldiers were killed in action, but nearly three years have gone by and their bodies have not yet been returned. The Shaul and Goldin families remain in an unresolved state, unable to give their sons proper burials in Israel.
The petition, which has already received nearly 1,000 signatures, will be delivered to ICRC President, Peter Maurer. Click here to sign:
