{"id":258811,"date":"2026-01-26T19:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/258811\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T19:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:17:13","slug":"all-of-them-home-now-body-of-last-hostage-ran-gvili-found-in-gaza-returned-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/258811\/","title":{"rendered":"All of them home now: Body of last hostage Ran Gvili found in Gaza, returned to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a moment Israelis long yearned for but few dared to believe would come, the body of the final hostage held in Gaza was identified and brought back to Israel on Monday, 843 days after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

Ran Gvili, 24, a police officer killed fighting the Hamas invaders, had been the last of 251 people kidnapped that day to remain captive, following the return of the rest of the hostages, living and dead, under the current ceasefire. For more than 50 days, he was the only hostage still held in Gaza, amid Hamas\u2019s insistence that it had been unable to locate him, leaving his family and country fearful he might never be recovered.<\/p>\n

But on Monday afternoon, a day after announcing it had launched a pinpoint search effort in a Muslim cemetery in Gaza City thanks to specific intel, the Israel Defense Forces said it had located Gvili\u2019s remains and was bringing them across the border, back to his parents and siblings, and to his fellow Israelis, for a proper burial.<\/p>\n

Gvili\u2019s return seals an excruciating chapter in the history of Israel and the Jewish people. For more than two years, amid war and adversity, masses across Israel and the world had vowed to keep protesting, praying and fighting \u201cuntil the last hostage,\u201d united across borders and backgrounds in the singular commitment to \u201cbring them home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, that goal has been achieved. For the first time since 2014, no hostages are held in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which organized the unprecedented activism for the captives since immediately after the October 7 attack, honored Gvili as \u201cFirst to go in; last to return.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir joins troops in Gaza City for a ceremony honoring slain hostage Master Sgt. Ran Gvili after his body was recovered in Gaza City, on January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire people of Israel are moved to tears,\u201d President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. \u201cAfter many difficult years, for the first time since 2014, there are no Israeli citizens held hostage in Gaza. An entire nation prayed and waited for this moment. May Ran\u2019s memory be a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gvili\u2019s family, the news was a balm as well as a blow: Their son and brother had been found. But for a family that had spoken of always holding onto the slim hope he might be alive \u2014 despite authorities stressing there was clear evidence he was not \u2014 it was also the final confirmation that he had indeed been killed.<\/p>\n

Talik Gvili, Ran\u2019s mother, who had spoken and advocated tirelessly for her captive son, said learning of his return brought \u201ca relief, after these two and a half years, even though we hoped for a different ending,\u201d during a call with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPortrait of Talik Gvili, mother of the sole remaining deceased hostage in Gaza, Ran Gvili, December 10, 2025. Ran Gvili\u2019s body was located by the IDF and returned to Israel on January 26, 2026. (Yossi Aloni\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

On Facebook, she wrote, \u201cThe first to go out, the last to come back. Our hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

His funeral will be held on Wednesday in his hometown of Meitar, near Beersheba.<\/p>\n

IDF troops operate at a cemetery in Gaza City during a search for the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, in footage issued on January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
\nA lengthy search<\/p>\n

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire, signed in early October 2025, mandated that the terror group release all living and deceased hostages in its possession within 72 hours of the agreement taking effect. But the process of the deceased hostages\u2019 return dragged on for far longer than that, as bodies were intermittently found and brought back over the subsequent two months.<\/p>\n

By early December, Gvili\u2019s was the only body remaining in Gaza. While his photo hung in public spaces across Israel, activism for the hostages had receded, the hostage families\u2019 forum began to wind down, and his family opted for smaller rallies calling for his release.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (center) and Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor (right), salute the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after it was located in eastern Gaza City, January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

In the following weeks, searches took place across the enclave, as his family and the country received mixed signals as to whether his remains were likely to be located.<\/p>\n

His body was found on Monday in a Muslim cemetery in eastern Gaza City, in the enclave\u2019s north.<\/p>\n

The IDF and Shin Bet security agency said that the intelligence indicating Gvili may be buried at the cemetery had been known for some time, though recently the picture was made clearer by intelligence-gathering operations, including the capture of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, and information confirmed by Hamas to Israel via mediators.<\/p>\n

Other intelligence leads had suggested that the body might be, or previously had been, in a tunnel on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line \u2014 which combat engineers searched \u2014 at Shifa Hospital, or at a different cemetery. The latter two sites are located on the Hamas side of the Yellow Line and were not searched by Israel amid the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tItzik Gvili, left, and Talik Gvili at a rally in Meitar on January 24, 2026. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

The Shin Bet said that the Islamic Jihad operative who was captured by Israeli forces in Gaza City a month ago provided information that strengthened the intelligence assessments that Gvili was buried at the cemetery in question.<\/p>\n

The operative had been involved in military activity against Israeli forces during the war and was suspected of being \u201cknowledgeable about the details of the burial location\u201d of Gvili, according to the Shin Bet.<\/p>\n

During his interrogation, the operative \u201cdescribed his involvement in transferring the body between several locations and also identified additional individuals who were aware of its whereabouts,\u201d the security agency said.<\/p>\n

A search operation at the cemetery, involving numerous troops and forensic experts \u2014 including 20 dentists \u2014 began over the weekend.<\/p>\n

The IDF began exhuming hundreds of bodies at the cemetery and, before Monday, had already tested around 250 of them for a potential match to Gvili.<\/p>\n

A few hours before the news of his identification was announced, dentists deployed to the cemetery were able to confirm that the dental structure of one body matched Gvili\u2019s. In addition, fingerprints and other tests were carried out to confirm his identity, according to the military.<\/p>\n

The search took place on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line that divides Gaza between Israeli and Hamas control, though some forces were deployed on the Hamas side for security purposes, military officials said.<\/p>\n

The IDF said it would be returning all of the other exhumed bodies to their graves and cleaning up the cemetery, out of respect for the dead.<\/p>\n

IDF troops sing at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, where the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili was located and identified, January 26, 2026. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Footage showed IDF soldiers at the cemetery singing \u201cAni Ma\u2019amin\u201d (I Believe). With the lyrics, \u201cI believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming,\u201d the song is a Jewish statement of faith often invoked as a symbol of resilience.<\/p>\n

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and other officers and troops salute the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after it was located in eastern Gaza City, January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

Another video, taken in Gaza, shows IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and other officers and troops saluting Gvili\u2019s body after it was located.<\/p>\n

The forces were heard singing Hatikvah, Israel\u2019s national anthem.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tIDF troops operate at a cemetery in Gaza City during a search for the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, in a handout photo issued on January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

Gvili was awaiting surgery for a broken shoulder on October 7, 2023, when he began hearing about the Hamas invasion, a 50-minute drive from his family home in Meitar.<\/p>\n

He threw on his uniform, hopped on one of his motorcycles, and sped to Kibbutz Alumim, where he battled Hamas terrorists for hours before he was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew where he was, he sent a location, he sent a selfie of his injury, and was in touch with his staff, he knew that backup was on the way,\u201d his mother said in a recent interview with The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n

Only on January 30, 2024, did the IDF inform the Gvilis that intelligence showed that Ran had been killed and his body abducted to Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u2018We brought everyone back\u2019<\/p>\n

Contacting the family after Gvili\u2019s body was found, Police Chief Daniel Levy spoke with his father, Itzik, and stressed the \u201cdetermination and bravery\u201d evinced by Gvili, \u201can officer in the Yasam [counter-terror] unit who shielded Israeli civilians with his body, sacrificing himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levy told Itzik Gvili that he \u201cextended a warm embrace to him and his family on behalf of the officers and warriors in the Israel Police,\u201d police said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tShira Gvili, sister of Ran Gvili, whose body was still held hostage in Gaza, speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on December 5, 2025 (Lior Rotstein\/Hostages Forum)<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media in the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the return of Gvili\u2019s body \u201can extraordinary achievement for the Israel Defense Forces, the State of Israel, the citizens of Israel, because you gave us the backing to complete the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe promised, and I promised, to bring everyone back, and we brought everyone back,\u201d he said, \u201cto the very last one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRani is a hero of Israel. He went in first, he came out last. He came home,\u201d said Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar also welcomed Gvili\u2019s return, writing that \u201cthe promise has been fulfilled\u201d and thanking security forces \u201cfor their tremendous efforts,\u201d in a Hebrew-language post on X.<\/p>\n

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Gvili\u2019s return was\u00a0\u201ca painful moment of closure,\u201d as well as \u201ca moment that underscores the State of Israel\u2019s commitment to its soldiers and citizens: to bring every single one home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tPhotos of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, displayed in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, on January 22, 2026. (Miriam Alster\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The return of Gvili\u2019s body is also a milestone in the Gaza ceasefire, whose second phase US President Donald Trump inaugurated last week, setting up organizations that will oversee Gaza\u2019s postwar reconstruction and governance.<\/p>\n

Hamas said on Monday that the return of Gvili\u2019s body proved its commitment to the terms of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discovery of the body of the last Israeli captive in Gaza confirms Hamas\u2019s commitment to all the requirements of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, including the prisoner exchange,\u201d Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Israel will hand over at least 15 bodies to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry after Gvili\u2019s body is returned, a source with knowledge of the details told The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n

The ratio of Palestinian bodies handed over for every hostage body returned is usually 15:1, but as Gvili is the final slain hostage, Israel might hand over more.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tHamas gunmen search for the remains of Israeli hostage Ran Gvili in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, January 7, 2026. (AP\/Abdel Kareem Hana)<\/p>\n

Hamas said in its statement that it will cooperate with a newly formed Palestinian technocratic committee meant to run Gaza\u2019s daily affairs. The terror group also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHamas will continue to adhere to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and ensuring its success. We call on the mediators and the United States to compel the \u2018occupation\u2019 to stop violating the agreement and to implement its required obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the next phase of the ceasefire, Netanyahu said on Monday, is \u201cdisarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase is not reconstruction,\u201d he stressed at the Knesset.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next phase is disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,\u201d he repeated. Netanyahu said that it is in Israel\u2019s interest \u201cto advance this phase, and not to delay it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will happen the easy way, or the hard way,\u201d said the premier. \u201cBut it will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a moment Israelis long yearned for but few dared to believe would come, the body of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-258811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}