A funeral ceremony for Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24, who was slain by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, was held on Jan. 28, two days after his body was found in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces.
The procession departed from the IDF’s Shura Base near Ramle in central Israel, heading to Gvili’s hometown of Meitar in the south.
An official motorcade escorted Gvili’s coffin along Route 431, via the Nesharim Interchange, Route 6, and Route 60, to Meitar, police said.
A memorial service was held in the town at 12:30 p.m., which was to be followed by a burial ceremony at Meitar’s cemetery. Attendance was limited, and no journalists were invited to the second ceremony.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the funeral, saying that burying Ran Gvili, whose remains were the last recovered from Gaza, seals the “painful reality” of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
The prime minister said his government will establish a new settlement in the Negev that will commemorate Ran. It will be named “Rananim” and will “express in its name the magnitude of Rani’s work for the benefit of Israel.”
“We will promote another initiative to establish a pre-military preparatory program in Rani’s name,” Netanyahu said. The program will prepare young people to serve in the Israeli police, the Border Police and the Special Patrol Unit, in which Ran served. The program “will pass on his name to generations of fighters.”
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that the body of Gvili, a 24-year-old Police Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) officer at the time of his killing, was recovered by soldiers from a cemetery in northern Gaza.
According to the IDF, 20 military dentists assisted soldiers in examining roughly 250 bodies in just over 24 hours, after intelligence narrowed the search to a specific plot in the cemetery.
As part of the intelligence operation, the IDF said multiple Palestinians from Gaza were detained and interrogated, providing information on the specific section of the cemetery where Gvili was buried.
He was reportedly found in a body bag from Gaza’s Hamas-linked Shifa Hospital, still wearing his Israel Police uniform, shoes, and belt.
With Gvili’s return, the IDF noted, the Palestinian terrorist group is no longer holding any hostages in the Gaza Strip for the first time since 2014.
