Israel Recovers Remains Of Last Gaza Captive, Ending 843-Day Hostage Ordeal (VIDEO)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s military confirmed Monday it recovered the remains of Ran Givli, a special forces officer killed in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, ending a more than two-year effort to bring him home.

Gvili, 24, was the last captive believed held by Hamas in Gaza, paving the way for the next phase of U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s peace plan to get underway, officials explained.

“Today, a painful chapter comes to an end. For the first time in over a decade, there are no Israeli hostages held in Gaza,” said a spokeswoman of the Israel Defense Forces in a video-recorded statement obtained by Worthy News.

“For 843 days, our people were taken from us, held in brutal conditions by an enemy that shows no respect for human life. Tonight, we announce that Sergeant First Class Ran Givli is coming home. Ran was 24 years old. He served in the Israeli Police Special Forces and fell in combat on October 7th defending Israeli civilians,” the IDF spokeswoman added.

“His body was abducted to Gaza. Bringing Ran home embodies a core Israeli and IDF value: No one is left behind. We do not abandon our soldiers or our civilians, not in life and not in death. To Ran, an entire nation awaited you. To Ran’s family, we will continue to stand by you during this difficult hour.”

‘FIGHTING FOR THIS MOMENT’

She stressed that “Over the past two and a half years, our soldiers fought bravely for this exact moment.” And the IDF warned Hamas: “We will remember who our enemy is, and we will remember who we are.”

She added: “We choose life. We defend life. Ran is coming home, and the State of Israel looks forward together.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his return “an extraordinary achievement.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) searched over 200 graves in Gaza to find Ran Gvili, noted Jonathan Burch, a security expert and self-described Jewish Christian who has had close ties to the IDF special forces.

“Let that sink in. While the U.N. condemns Israel and protestors chant for intifada on American campuses, Jewish soldiers were crawling through rubble and digging through burial sites to bring one young man home for a proper burial,” Burch added in social media remarks monitored by Worthy News.

FIRST TO FIGHT HAMAS

“He was first to fight on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, he recalled. Now, hundreds of days later, he will be returned to his family, Burch stressed. “This is who Israel is. This is who we have always been. We count our dead by name because every life is sacred. The nations that despise us will never understand this.”

On the morning of the October 7 attack, Ran Gvili was at home on medical leave from his elite police unit, according to his sister Shira. Despite his leave, he rushed toward the Nova Music Festival after hearing that Hamas gunmen were attacking panicked partygoers. The festival later became the site of Israel’s deadliest civilian massacre, with at least 364 people killed and more than 40 taken hostage.

Gvili and other officers never reached the venue, instead confronting militants at Kibbutz Alumim near the Gaza border. His mother told media he warned his team by radio that more vehicles carrying terrorists were approaching, then opened fire and fought alone even after being wounded in his leg and arm.

At the entrance to Kibbutz Alumim, a sign honoring him calls him “Rani, the Shield of Alumim,” crediting his heroic stand with helping save the lives of kibbutz residents. Unlike several other border communities attacked that day, Alumim’s residents survived, though 22 migrant workers outside the kibbutz’s defensive perimeter were reportedly killed.

Gvili was one of 251 people, mostly civilians, who were abducted in the October 7 attack, when Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people. In the ensuing war in Gaza, some 71,660 Palestinians were killed, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, while Israel claims many of those who died were militants.

EXTENSIVE SEARCH IN CEMETERY

Israeli officials said the search for his remains focused on a cemetery near Gaza City after intelligence was clarified over the weekend.

Hamas’s armed wing said it provided mediators with details that helped locate the body.

Netanyahu’s office said Israel would reopen Gaza’s key Rafah border crossing with Egypt once the retrieval operation was complete.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the discovery “confirms Hamas’s commitment” to the ceasefire requirements, though Israel has accused the group of repeated violations.

In Israel, Givli’s father Itzik delivered an emotional farewell beside his son’s coffin. “You had the option to stay home, but you said: ‘Father, I’m not going to leave my friends to fight alone,’” he told mourners.

RELIEF MIXED WITH GRIEF

Givli’s sister Shira told the Hostages and Missing Families Forum she felt both relief and sorrow. “I feel an insane sense of relief… I am sad that it ended this way, but it had to end at some point. I am so happy he’s coming back home,” she said.

The recovery ends Israel’s hostage agony after 843 days and may bring closure to families who gathered weekly in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square since the October 7 assault, when some 250 people were abducted.

Netanyahu recalled meeting the family in Hostages Square and repeating his pledge: “We will bring Rani home… We will bring everyone home.”

Israel had resisted moving forward with the ceasefire’s next phase until Givli was found. With Rani’s remains recovered, phase two of the deal was expected to go ahead. It is due to involve reconstruction and the demilitarization of Gaza, including disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups, alongside the possible deployment of an International Stabilization Force and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops.

While many Israelis welcomed the return of the last captive, critics argued the effort came at immense cost, with thousands of Israeli and Palestinian lives lost during the prolonged armed conflict.

Still, supporters said the retrieval underscored a defining Israeli principle: every life is sacred, and no one is forgotten.

Latest Worthy News