{"id":259427,"date":"2026-01-27T03:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/259427\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T03:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:43:14","slug":"pm-gvilis-return-an-extraordinary-achievement-trump-amazing-job-leaders-remove-hostage-pins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/259427\/","title":{"rendered":"PM: Gvili’s return an ‘extraordinary achievement’; Trump: Amazing job; leaders remove hostage pins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the return of the body of Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last hostage in Gaza, was \u201can extraordinary achievement for Israel,\u201d as US President Donald Trump hailed his own administration\u2019s \u201camazing job\u201d in securing his recovery and impromptu gatherings were held across Israel to mark the first time in over 11 years without captives held in the Strip.<\/p>\n

Gvili\u2019s body was snatched to Gaza on October 7, 2023, after he was killed defending Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel during the Hamas-led onslaught that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. His body was found a day after Israel confirmed searching for it in a Gaza City cemetery based on new intelligence.<\/p>\n

The return of Gvili\u2019s body was \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 Netanyahu told reporters at the Knesset in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe promised, and I promised, to bring everyone back, and we brought everyone back, down to the last one,\u201d he said. \u201cRani is a hero of Israel. He went in first; he came out last. He came back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking later in the Knesset plenum, Netanyahu ceremoniously removed from his lapel the yellow ribbon pin that has come to symbolize the struggle for the hostages\u2019 return.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow that the mission is accomplished, it\u2019s time to take it off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With the last hostage back, the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire \u201cis not rehabilitation, but the disarmament of Hamas and demilitarization of Gaza,\u201d Netanyahu added.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks outside his office at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an interest in promoting that phase and not delaying it,\u201d he said. He did not comment on Israel\u2019s own commitments as part of the second phase, including letting more aid into Gaza and reopening the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. On Sunday, his office said Israel would open the crossing\u00a0once the search for Gvili\u2019s body was complete.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speasks in the Knesset, January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The return of Gvili\u2019s body marked the first time since 2014 that there were no Israelis held hostage in Gaza, as even before October 7, Hamas had been holding two Israeli civilians and the bodies of two soldiers hostage.<\/p>\n

President Isaac Herzog said in a statement on Gvili\u2019s return that \u201cthe entire people of Israel is moved to tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\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 he said.<\/p>\n

Herzog also published a video of himself and his wife, Michal, removing their hostage pins. In a second video, they told Gvili\u2019s parents, Talik and Itzik, over the phone that \u201cthe heart of the entire people of Israel is exploding with love for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tPolice officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

The parents could be heard thanking the president and his wife for their support, with Talik saying: \u201cWe\u2019re proud of our country and our troops.\u201d In her own comments later outside the Gvili family home in southern Israel\u2019s Meitar, Talik tearfully reiterated that message, saying, \u201cOur pride is much, much stronger than our pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another, English-language, post, Herzog said his residence had \u201cfinally removed the yellow chair\u201d that many Israeli institutions had erected to honor the hostages following the October 7 attack. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee took part in the ceremony, said Herzog.<\/p>\n

\u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05d2 \u05de\u05e1\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e1\u05d9\u05db\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05d8\u05d5\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05d9\u05d0 \u05de\u05e1\u05d9\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05e1\u05de\u05de\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d7\u05d8\u05d5\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd ???? pic.twitter.com\/m9B2kqXt5b<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Yanir Cozin \u2013 \u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e7\u05d5\u05d6\u05d9\u05df (@yanircozin) January 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the moment we have been waiting 843 days for,\u201d said Herzog. \u201cTonight, the people of Israel can slowly begin to heal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was particularly symbolic to share this moment with my friend, Mike Huckabee, as together we thanked President Donald Trump
for his exceptional leadership and commitment to bringing home every last hostage,\u201d said Herzog.<\/p>\n

This is the moment we have been waiting 843 days for.<\/p>\n

We finally removed the yellow chair from the President’s Residence after our last hostage, Ran Gvili, was returned home.<\/p>\n

It was particularly symbolic to share this moment with my friend, @USAmbIsrael<\/a> Mike Huckabee, as\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/zO1PfxwO8q<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u05d9\u05e6\u05d7\u05e7 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05d2 Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) January 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Israeli politicians across the spectrum also hailed the return of Gvili\u2019s body, while offering condolences to his family.\n<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar wrote on X that \u201cthe promise has been fulfilled,\u201d and thanked Israel\u2019s security forces \u201cfor their tremendous efforts,\u201d while Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Gvili\u2019s return was \u201ca painful moment of closure\u201d that \u201cunderscores the State of Israel\u2019s commitment to its soldiers and citizens: to bring every single one home.\u201d<\/p>\n

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, saluted Gvili and other officers who \u201cwere the firewall on October 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI join in the great pain of the dear Gvili family, alongside the great relief and joy that Ran is no longer in the enemy\u2019s hands,\u201d said Ben Gvir. He pledged to the family that \u201cwe will keep accompanying and embracing you, and we won\u2019t let go for a second.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at a police Memorial Day ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery, April 30, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

In a video statement on Gvili\u2019s return, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declared he would now do \u201cone of the happiest and saddest things I have ever done,\u201d and also removed the yellow ribbon pin from his lapel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sending a big hug to the family of Ran Gvili and to the security forces, who have done an amazing job, and to the entire people of Israel,\u201d said Lapid. \u201cThere are things that set aside all our disagreements. The entire people of Israel thank the almighty God today that [Gvili] was brought to a final rest and his family will be able to visit his grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Yair Golan, head of opposition party The Democrats, said the return of the last hostage was \u201cthe opening shot for our next fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo more sloganeering and whitewashing,\u201d said Golan, demanding a state commission of inquiry be established into the failures surrounding the October 7 onslaught \u2014 something Netanyahu has refused to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur duty is to ensure that the debacle cannot repeat itself, and that no Israeli family will go through this hell again,\u201d said Golan.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tActivists in Kfar Saba take down a poster of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili after his body was returned from Gaza, marking the return of the final hostage, on January 26, 2026. (Danor Aharon\/ Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)<\/p>\n

In Kfar Saba, a group of activists gathered to symbolically remove the shirts, necklaces and pins calling for the return of the hostages. Others removed the poster of Gvili from a wall that had once featured the photos of all 251 hostages, and which were taken down one by one as they were returned.<\/p>\n

The group was joined by Ruti Strum, the mother of released hostages Eitan and Iair Horn.<\/p>\n

In Tel Aviv, a small group gathered on Begin Road, where, for more than two years, anti-government activists took up the hostages\u2019 cause during weekly Saturday night demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Others flocked to the city\u2019s Hostages Square throughout the evening and into the night.<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, congratulated his own aides, while his son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner hailed international and Gazan cooperation in returning Gvili\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump holds the charter during a signing ceremony on his Board of Peace initiative at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)<\/p>\n

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the president congratulated his \u201cgreat team of Champions\u201d for brokering the Gaza ceasefire deal that secured the return of the last 20 living and 28 slain hostages.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust recovered the last Hostage body in GAZA. Thus, got back ALL 20 of the living Hostages, and ALL of the Dead!\u201d wrote Trump. \u201cAMAZING JOB! Most thought of it as an impossible thing to do. Congratulations to my great team of Champions!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner, an architect of the Gaza ceasefire, also hailed the coordination between the US, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, and \u201cmany cooperative Gazans,\u201d who he said helped locate and return the bodies of all the deceased hostages from Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoordination and trust were built between individuals and organizations where none previously existed. This produced tangible results,\u201d said Kushner on X.<\/p>\n

He did not elaborate on that coordination. The Ynet news site reported<\/a> Friday that a Palestinian informant retrieved the body of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul from a locked refrigerator in January 2025, wrapped it in a rug, and carried it on his shoulder for 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile) to IDF troops in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelping the people of Gaza start a new chapter free from the tyranny of Hamas is a critical mission to prevent future death and destruction for Israelis and Palestinians,\u201d Kushner said. \u201cThis will also eliminate a flashpoint manipulated by disingenuous actors to mobilize antisemitism and other forms of division and hatred.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying new approaches, hoping to achieve new outcomes. This is an end, but also a new beginning,\u201d Kushner added.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tUS businessman Jared Kushner speaks at the \u2018Board of Peace\u2019 meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2026. (Fabrice COFFRINI \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Hamas, for its part, said the retrieval of Gvili\u2019s body demonstrated the terror group\u2019s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire deal.<\/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 said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem in a statement, calling on mediators to compel Israel \u201cto stop violating the agreement and to implement its required obligations.\u201d<\/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,\u201d said Qassem, referring to the committee of independent Palestinian technocrats that is supposed to take control of Gaza from Hamas under Trump\u2019s peace plan.<\/p>\n

Hamas\u2019s smaller ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed it had provided the coordinates for Gvili\u2019s body three weeks ago and that Israel purposely sat on the information. PIJ has previously said that, while the terror organization initially held Gvili\u2019s body in Gaza, it later handed it over to Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on new information, we gave the coordinates of the last prisoner\u2019s body to mediators three weeks ago,\u201d said the spokesman for PIJ\u2019s armed wing, al-Quds Brigades, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enemy purposely delayed coordination and search operations\u201d for the body, he accused, referring to Israel.<\/p>\n

The Shin Bet security agency gave a different account, saying a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who was captured by Israeli forces in Gaza City a month ago provided information that strengthened intelligence that the body was located at the cemetery.<\/p>\n

The Shin Bet said 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.<\/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

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\n\t\tEgyptian Red Crescent members monitor a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it enters the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, October 12, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mohamed Arafat)<\/p>\n

Palestinians in Gaza said they hoped the recovery of the remains would lead to the opening of Rafah Crossing and allow travel to and from Gaza, along with the evacuation of people needing medical care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope this will close off Israel\u2019s pretexts and open the crossing,\u201d said Abdel-Rahman Radwan, a Gaza City resident whose mother is a cancer patient and requires treatment outside Gaza.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Ruqab, a father who lives with his family of six in a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp, called for mediators and the US to pressure Israel to allow more aid and caravans into Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to turn this page and restart,\u201d he said over the phone.<\/p>\n

AP contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

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