Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the recovery effort of the abductees over on Tuesday, saying Israel had “fully completed the holy mission of returning all hostages” after the remains of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili were returned on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem alongside IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, the national coordinator for hostages and missing persons, Netanyahu said Israel’s war objectives rested on “three things: the return of all our abductees, the dismantling of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza.”
“Only this way will we ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to the State of Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu recalled how he had rejected assertions at the start of the conflict two years ago that the hostages could not be brought home without ending the war and meeting Hamas’s demands.
“But I believed otherwise. I believed that through a combination of military and political pressure, we could bring all our abductees home,” he said.
The prime minister described some of the heartbreaking meetings he and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, held with hostage families, saying they demanded he promise—and then swear—that he would bring their loved ones home.
“We did it,” Netanyahu said. “Thanks to the informed decisions we made. Thanks to our heroic soldiers and commanders in the regular army and in the reserves. Thanks to the sacrifice of the fallen. Thanks to the spiritual strength of those who were wounded, physically and mentally. Thanks to all of them, we did it. We’ve accomplished the task.”
‘The mission is complete’
Speaking after the prime minister, Hirsch described the moment he told Netanyahu that Gvili’s remains had been recovered.
“Yesterday, I informed you that Rani is with us, we have found him, and he is on his way home. After a long journey and heavy journey, it was an exciting and very special moment. I told you, prime minister, that the mission is complete.”
“Rani, my brother, the hero of Israel, and the Gvili family, of noble soul, have set a monument in the history of Israel in the colors blue and white. I love them very much,” Hirsch said.
Gvili, a member of the elite Special Patrol Unit of the Israeli Police force, died heroically saving revelers at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas invasion. His body was recovered by the Israel Defense Forces in a special mission from a Gaza cemetery.
‘He would not let his friends fight alone’
When the attacks began, Gvili put on his uniform, left his home, where he was recovering from a broken shoulder injured only 10 days before, and headed out to the fight.
“Rani told us he would not let his friends fight alone and that even with the fracture, he could still hold a handgun,” said his father, Itzik Gvili. “I will never forget the look in his eyes. It was as if he was saying, ‘This is what I have waited for my entire life.’”
Gvili went to the Beersheva police station, joining with police forces headed toward Alumim, a religious kibbutz located near the border with the Gaza Strip.
During the battle, he rescued about 100 people who had fled the Nova music festival and killed 14 Hamas terrorist forces.
He was shot in the arm and leg during the fighting. He held his position, choosing not to evacuate and radioing information about the enemy’s movement until he died from his wounds. Hamas then seized his body.
