{"id":155625,"date":"2025-11-27T12:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/155625\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:13:11","slug":"father-of-last-slain-israeli-hostage-in-gaza-we-pray-he-wont-be-another-ron-arad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/155625\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of last slain Israeli hostage in Gaza: ‘We pray he won’t be another Ron Arad’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The father of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili<\/a>, the last slain Israeli hostage still held in the Gaza Strip, said Thursday that he fears his son will never be returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pray of course that he will not be another Ron Arad or [Hadar] Goldin,\u201d Itzik Gvili told Kan news. \u201cThat we don\u2019t drag it out for many more years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldin, an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014 and whose body was held in Gaza for over a decade, was returned to Israel this month. Arad, an Israeli Air Force navigator who was captured in Lebanon in 1988 after ejecting from his aircraft, has been missing ever since.<\/p>\n

Police Master Sgt. Gvili was killed battling Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, and his body was abducted to Gaza. Gvili is one of two slain hostages who remain in Gaza. The second is Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak<\/a>, who was killed by Hamas terrorists the same day in Kibbutz Be\u2019eri, where he was employed as an agricultural worker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re moving forward because we have to,\u201d Itzik Gvili said. \u201cHamas says they\u2019re looking for his body, but we don\u2019t see any progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He added that \u201cthey probably know where he is. They are playing games and deceiving us,\u201d though he did not offer further information.<\/p>\n

Regarding Israeli authorities, he said, \u201cI know that they don\u2019t know much\u201d about the location of Ran\u2019s remains.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tPolice officer Sgt. First Class Ran Gvili, confirmed on January 31, 2024, to have been killed by terrorists on October 7, with his body abducted to Gaza (Israel Police)<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera reported Thursday that fresh searches were underway for the remains of a hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza. An Israeli military source confirmed the matter to Kan.<\/p>\n

Itzik Gvili expressed his concern that backing for the families of remaining hostages will dwindle now that all but two have returned, with the main hostage support organization, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, already saying it will significantly narrow<\/a> its activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I am concerned, until Ran comes back, he is alive,\u201d Gvili said. \u201cI have nothing else to hope for. Perhaps there will be a miracle, and he will still be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gvili was declared dead by Israeli authorities in January 2024, based on various findings and intelligence information.<\/p>\n

Itzik Gvili said that though he hadn\u2019t spoken to the media much in the past, he now intended to be more vocal so that the family\u2019s plight will not slip from the government\u2019s and the public\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

Describing his son as a \u201chero\u201d for continuing to fight even after he was injured in battle, the father said, \u201cJust like Ran didn\u2019t forget the nation on that day, I don\u2019t want the nation to forget him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe two slain hostages whose bodies were still held captive in Gaza as of November 24, 2025: Sudthisak Rinthalak (left) and Ran Gvili. (Collage by The Times of Israel; Photos: Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Ran\u2019s mother, Talik Gvili, told the Ynet outlet that it was \u201can unsettling time\u201d for the family, though she was \u201chappy that hostages returned and families are getting closure and can begin breathing again as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she knows searches are being conducted in Gaza for Ran\u2019s remains in the area where he is known to have been taken, and that the family is receiving daily updates from Israeli officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that they will find him,\u201d she said, also adding she was hoping for \u201ca miracle\u201d that will see him return alive. \u201cFrom the first day, I have been imagining him returning on his own two feet. It is hard, not easy to imagine something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talik said she, too, hopes the media will \u201cremain with us until everyone comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Hamas returned the remains of Dror Or<\/a>, with his identity being confirmed by forensic authorities the following day.<\/p>\n

The hostages were among 251 abducted from Israel when Hamas led a devastating invasion of the country on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and triggered a war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Following a ceasefire deal reached last month, Hamas and other terror groups returned all the living hostages they held and then gradually handed over the remains of the deceased, except for Givili and Rinthalak.<\/p>\n

The Gazan terror groups are obligated to return all the deceased hostages to Israel under the terms of the ceasefire deal. However, they claim they have had trouble locating the remaining bodies despite repeated searches.<\/p>\n


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