The Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that the remains of the final hostage held in Gaza, an IDF commando killed on Oct.
7, have been recovered and identified.
According to Newsmax, the military disclosed on X that forensic experts had conclusively identified the remains of 24-year-old Yamam commando Ran Gvili, whose body was seized by Hamas terrorists and taken into Gaza during the initial onslaught against Israel.
The IDF stated in Hebrew, with an accompanying platform translation, that "Following the completion of the identification process by the National Center of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, IDF representatives informed the family of the abducted."
Officials confirmed that Gvilis remains have now been laid to rest in Israel, closing a painful chapter for his family and for a nation that has insisted from the outset that no hostage would be forgotten.
Military authorities emphasized that Gvili fell in combat on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, as he fought to repel the Hamas invasion that left more than a thousand Israelis dead and shattered any illusions about the terror groups intentions. The IDF underscored its solidarity with the bereaved, declaring, "The IDF shares the family's grief. The IDF will continue to accompany the families and the returned hostages and to act to strengthen the security of Israel's citizens."
With the identification of Gvilis remains, the army announced that the hostage file from the Gaza border region has been fully closed. "With this, all the abductees from the Gaza Strip area have been returned," the military said, marking a grim but decisive milestone in a war that began with mass abductions and atrocities. For many Israelis, the recovery of the last hostage underscores both the brutality of Hamas and the determination of the Jewish state to bring its people home, even when that means retrieving only their remains.
The announcement followed Israels declaration on Sunday that its forces were engaged in a "large-scale operation" in Gaza to locate the final hostage. That operation unfolded under intense international scrutiny, as Washington and other mediators pressed both Israel and Hamas to move into the next phase of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
At the same time, Israels Cabinet convened to debate whether to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a key demand of the Biden administration and other international actors eager to accelerate the ceasefire process. The discussion came just one day after senior U.S. envoys met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press for what they describe as next steps, often code for additional concessions from Jerusalem in the name of stability and humanitarian access.
The return of the final hostage has been widely viewed as the last major condition before Israel would agree to open Rafah, a move that would formally signal the second phase of the ceasefire arrangement. Late Sunday, Netanyahus office made clear that Israel would not be rushed into that step without first exhausting its efforts to account for every captive. His office stated that once the search operation is "exhausted and in accordance with the agreement with the United States, Israel will open the Rafah crossing."
From the outset, the first phase of the ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10, has centered on the return of all remaining hostages, whether alive or dead. Before Sundays developments, the previous hostage remains were recovered in early December, underscoring how protracted and difficult the process has been in the face of Hamas obstruction and the chaos of urban warfare in Gaza.
Gvilis family had taken a firm public stance, urging Netanyahus government not to proceed to the second phase of the ceasefire until his remains were brought back from Gaza. Their position resonated with many Israelis who believe that national honor and deterrence require a clear message: Israel does not abandon its soldiers, even under heavy diplomatic pressure.
Yet the political and diplomatic pressure has been mounting, with foreign governments and international institutions increasingly impatient for Israel to shift from active military operations to a more constrained posture. In a sign of how aggressively some in Washington are pushing that narrative, the article notes that the Trump administration has already declared in recent days that the second phase is underway, a formulation that appears at odds with Israels insistence on tying that phase to the fate of its last hostage.
Throughout the process, Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of deliberately stalling efforts to recover the final hostage, using human remains and missing persons as bargaining chips in a cynical propaganda war. The terror group, which still enjoys sympathy in some progressive circles despite its record of atrocities, has sought to deflect blame for the delays and humanitarian suffering that its own aggression unleashed.
In a statement Sunday, Hamas claimed it had already provided all the information in its possession regarding Gvilis remains. The group further accused Israel of obstructing efforts to search for the remains in areas of Gaza under Israeli military control, an allegation that fits Hamas longstanding strategy of shifting responsibility for its own crimes onto the Jewish state.
For Israel, the recovery of Gvilis body and the formal closure of the hostage file from the Gaza border area may now clear the way for a calibrated opening of Rafah under terms acceptable to Jerusalem and Washington.
The government will still face a delicate balancing act: honoring the sacrifices of its soldiers and the demands of their families, maintaining security control against a genocidal enemy, and navigating the relentless diplomatic pressure from Western elites who often seem more eager to restrain Israel than to confront Islamist terror.
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