The parents of the last deceased hostage in Gaza, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, met on Monday with Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi, David Yosef.
“I have the honor of greeting the parents of Ran Gvili, the last hostage who, sadly, is still being held in captivity. I explained to the parents that according to Jewish law, even if it is certain that he has fallen, there is a great Torah commandment to do everything possible to bring him to a Jewish burial,” Yosef remarked in a recorded video of the meeting.
“We are all praying, and I call upon each and every one of the people of Israel that, with God’s help, very soon—very soon—he will return to us, and that his parents will know fulfillment from all their descendants. Amen, may it be God’s will,” he added.
Gvili, 24, died of wounds suffered battling terrorists at the entrance to Kibbutz Alumim during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israel Police Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) volunteer from Meitar was due to undergo surgery on a broken shoulder on the morning of Hamas’s massacre. Affectionately known to family and friends as “Rani,” he instead insisted on joining his fellow police and military officers on the front lines.
He texted his friends late that morning that he had been shot in the leg. It was his last communication.
Gvili reportedly saved hundreds of Nova festival attendees and prevented terrorists from infiltrating Kibbutz Alumim.
