The State Comptroller and Ombudsman is currently conducting an audit on the treatment of the returned hostages and their families
The State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman, conducted on November 12, 2025, a condolence visit to the parents of the late Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, whose remains were abducted to Gaza eleven years ago and returned to Israel this week.
The bereaved parents, Simcha and Leah Goldin, shared memories of Hadar and recounted the protracted struggle they carried out.
In January 2023, State Comptroller Englman published a report concerning the Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing. The impetus for this report stemmed from a meeting between the State Comptroller and Hadar's parents in February 2022.
Upon presenting the report to the Goldin family, several months prior to the onset of the Swords of Iron War, the State Comptroller emphasized that "The issue of prisoners of war and missing persons must remain a focal point within Israeli society and should, at all times, remain a priority for the Prime Minister and all decision-makers". The report revealed extremely significant deficiencies in the Coordinator's activities, his powers and responsibilities regarding the preservation of organizational memory, the actual decision-making on the format of his activities – and the necessary communication with the families.
State Comptroller Englman with the parents of the late Lieutenant Hadar Goldin
Moreover, the report highlighted that "In June 2014, the Shamgar Committee's recommendations were submitted to the Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs (the Cabinet). Documentation indicated that no further discussions took place following this submission, neither in the government, nor at the Cabinet or at another ministerial committee, nor were any decisions made concerning the Committee's recommendations. This was despite the Prime Minister's directive issued in 2014 to hold another Cabinet discussion on these recommendations; despite the assertion by the Chairman of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee that a national policy is required concerning prisoners of war and missing persons, and that the effective abandonment of the recommendations of the Shamgar Report cannot be accepted; and despite the position expressed by the Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing concerning the necessity for a Cabinet discussion on these recommendations".
The State Comptroller continues to conduct an audit concerning the treatment of the returned hostages and their families.
