Gaza, IDF locates remains of last hostage from 7 October
The body of Staff Sergeant Ran Gvili identified: he was the last hostage still to be handed over to Israel. Nethanyau: an "extraordinary achievement"
Key points
Following searches at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, the Idf announces that the body of Major Sergeant Ran Gvilihas been located and identified. The army adds that Gvili's family has been informed by military representatives and that his body will be brought back to Israel for burial.
Gvili was the last hostage still to be returned to Israel after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel in which 251 hostages were kidnapped. This means that no hostages will remain in the Strip for the first time in over a decade. Gvili, a 24-year-old policeman, was killed while defending kibbutz Alumim during the Hamas-led assault on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
The Israeli government's satisfaction
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the finding of the last hostage an "extraordinary achievement for Israel": "We promised, and I promised, to bring everyone back, and we brought everyone back, every last one," Netanyahu said, speaking to the press at the Knesset. "Rani is a hero of Israel. He went in first, he came out last. He came back," he added. "The next phase is not the reconstruction" of Gaza, the Israeli premier stressed again, speaking at a special Knesset session in honour of Albanian counterpart Edi Rama. "The next phase is the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip", Netanyahu reiterated. "It is in Israel's interest to anticipate this stage, not delay it," he added. "It will happen the easy way, or the hard way. But it will happen," he concluded.
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"Staff Sergeant Ran Gvili returned home. On the morning of 7 October, with the outbreak of the murderous terrorist attack, Ran rushed to the Gaza area, bravely joined the fighting in kibbutz Alumim, fought with exceptional heroism, eliminated many terrorists and defended civilians with his own body, until he fell in battle and was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip". This was written on X by the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad claim their commitment to the finding
Hamas, for its part, reacted to the location by the IDF of Ran Gvili's body by stating that "the discovery of the body of the last Israeli prisoner confirms our commitment to comply with all the demands of the agreement to end the war in the Gaza Strip". "We will continue to engage on all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the Palestinian Committee for the Management of Gaza," the Palestinian organisation said. "We call on the mediators and the United States to compel the occupation to cease violations of the agreement and to fulfil its obligations."
A role in the recovery of the Israeli policeman's remains may also have been played by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which claims to have provided the coordinates of the last hostage recovered three weeks ago. "Based on new information, we had provided the coordinates of the body of the last captive to the mediators three weeks ago," says the spokesman for the armed wing, the al-Quds Brigades, whose call sign is Abu Hamza. "The enemy intentionally delayed the coordination and search operations" for the body, he added, referring to Israel. The Times of Israel reported this.
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