The final Israeli hostage was recovered and brought back to Israel on Monday, the Israeli military said, concluding the long process of bringing the hostages back from Gaza following the October 7 terrorist attack more than two years ago.
Ran Gvili was a 24-year-old Israeli police officer who was killed on October 7 and brought to Gaza, where he was held for 843 days.
“After an identification process conducted by the National Center of Forensic Medicine together with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, officials notified his family that his remains had been identified and would be brought to burial,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Gvili’s family has been notified “that their loved one has been identified and will be returned for burial,” according to the IDF.
The IDF confirmed that on Sunday a “large-scale operation” was carried out in search of Gvili’s body, as pressure mounts to continue into the second phase of the cease-fire deal with Hamas.
Key points of this cease-fire deal — brokered by President Donald Trump — include disarmament of Hamas, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and an international force created by Trump to oversee security in the Gaza region.
The first phase of the cease-fire, however, was long delayed, as a central point was Hamas’s return of Israeli hostages, a process it claimed was difficult due to the war-torn state of the area.
Hamas was required to release all hostages, both dead and alive, to Israel within 72 hours of the initial cease-fire agreement. Both 20 living and 27 deceased hostages were eventually released, but Hamas said it was unable to locate Gvili.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the return of the final hostage “an extraordinary achievement.”
“We promised — and I promised — to bring everyone back. We brought them all back, down to the very last captive,” Netanyahu said.
With the return of the final hostage, Israel and Gaza can now enter into the second phase of peace and follow through with Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the region.
Israel announced that with Gvili’s return, it will now reopen the pedestrian passage of the Rafah crossing, noting the area will be “subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism.”
The U.S. continues to assert that Hamas must fully comply with all of its obligations for the peace to be successful, and “Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,” U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff wrote earlier this month.