The Albany Gazette - Israel returns remains of last Gaza hostage Ran Gvili

Militants took 251 hostages to Gaza that day, and the process of returning them has dragged over the course of the ensuing war, playing out in a series of ceasefire and prisoner-swap deals as well as efforts to rescue them militarily -- some successful, others not.

Gvili's coffin was accompanied by a convoy of dozens of cars with blaring sirens and flashing lights, passing civilians waving Israeli flags on the side of the road.

At a ceremony held at a military base near Gaza, the slain police officer's father addressed his coffin, saying "all the people are with you".

"You should see the honours we're giving you here," Ytzik Gvili said. "I'm proud of you my son."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Monday hailed the return of all those held captive "down to the very last".

The most recent set of hostage handovers were part of the US-backed ceasefire deal that took effect on October 10, aiming to put a halt to more than two years of fighting that has devastated the Palestinian territory.

Hamas has said that it provided information as to the location of Gvili's body, and spokesman Hazem Qassem said Monday that his recovery "confirms Hamas's commitment to all the requirements of the ceasefire agreement".

The first phase of the US-backed deal stipulated the return of every hostage in Gaza, and Gvili's family had expressed strong opposition to moving on to the second phase before they had received his remains.

Gvili's mother Talik on Monday called her son's return "amazing".

"We've come full circle -- he's finally coming home, we can't believe it," she told Israel's public broadcaster KAN. "They found him intact, dressed in his uniform."

- Killed in action -

The Israeli military said in a statement on Monday that it had definitively identified Gvili and was repatriating his remains.

"With this, all hostages have been returned from the Gaza Strip to the State of Israel," it added.

Footage released by the military showed Gvili's coffin draped in an Israeli flag and surrounded by soldiers singing the national anthem.

The young Israeli police officer in the elite Yassam unit was on medical leave ahead of shoulder surgery when Hamas launched its deadly 2023 attack on Israel.

Instead of staying home, the 24-year-old motorcycle enthusiast grabbed his gun and raced toward the area of the attack in southern Israel to fight the Palestinian militants.

Nicknamed the "Defender of Alumim" by his family and the kibbutz of that name, Gvili was killed in combat near the community and his body taken to Gaza by Hamas militants.

Israeli police officers paid their respect to Gvili Monday in a live-streamed ceremony at a military base near Gaza.

- 'Many difficult years' -

The return of the hostages over the course of the Gaza war had been a complicated and arduous process.

"This is an extraordinary achievement for the State of Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists in parliament on Monday.

"We brought them all back, down to the very last captive," he added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog celebrated Gvili's return, saying: "After 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."

Prior to October 2023, two civilian hostages and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in previous wars were being held in the territory.

Israeli forces were searching for Gvili's remains in a cemetery in northern Gaza, officials said Sunday.

The announcement of the search came after visiting US envoys reportedly pushed Israeli officials to reopen Gaza's Rafah crossing -- a vital entry point for aid whose reopening was part of phase two of the US-backed ceasefire deal -- even before Gvili's remains were returned.

Israeli officials said on Monday that though they would open the crossing, only pedestrians would be allowed to travel through it to Egypt.

"I live with the hope that I will travel with my husband and children to Egypt, and then to anywhere in the world, as soon as the crossing opens," Maha Youssef, a displaced Palestinian from Gaza City, told AFP.

- 'True friend' -

Israeli authorities had confirmed to Gvili's parents in January 2024 that the young officer was killed on October 7 and that his body had been taken to Gaza.

"He ran to help, to save people... even though he was already injured before October 7," his father told AFP in December, referring to Gvili's shoulder issue.

"But that was Rani -- always running forward, the first to help and the first to jump in."

In a statement, the Israeli group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza described Gvili as "a true friend, loved by everyone".

The group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has worked since the outset of the war to keep the plight of the captives in the public eye.

"We can finally say: there are no longer any hostages in Gaza," it said after Gvili's return.

Central Gaza's Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said on Monday that it had received nine living Palestinian detainees released by Israel after Gvili's recovery.

Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliation has flattened much of Gaza, a territory that was already suffering from previous rounds of fighting and an Israeli blockade imposed since 2007.

The two-year war between Israel and Hamas has left at least 71,660 people dead in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

(O.Garcia--TAG)