‘Pride of the entire nation’: Israel holds funeral for last Gaza hostage
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A convoy carrying the remains of Mr Ran Gvili, the last hostage to be retrieved from Gaza, in Ramla, Israel, on Jan 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MEITAR, Israel - Hundreds of tearful mourners packed a stadium in southern Israel on Jan 28 for the funeral of Mr Ran Gvili, the last Gaza hostage whose burial marks the end of a painful national saga triggered by Hamas’ 2023 attack
Israeli forces on Jan 26 brought home the remains of Mr Gvili
A large banner bearing the portrait of Mr Gvili hung in the stadium in the town of Meitar, the 24-year-old police officer’s home town and where he will be laid to rest.
In front of the sombre crowd, which included tearful family members, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, Mr Gvili’s coffin lay draped in an Israeli flag.
“I hoped you would come back on your own two feet, and that gave me strength,” said his mother Talik Gvili, who described her son as “the first to leave, last to return”.
“For two years and four months, we talked about you constantly, and you became everyone’s child,” she added. “Rani, you are with me all the time.”
Mr Herzog hailed the return of his remains but said he could only regret not having known Mr Gvili while he was alive.
“Gvili family, I ask you, as president, for forgiveness that we were not there for him... An entire nation mourns with you today,” he said during the funeral ceremony.
An officer in the elite Yassam unit, Mr Gvili was on medical leave ahead of shoulder surgery when Hamas launched its deadly attack in southern Israel, but he grabbed his gun and raced towards the area.
Of the 251 hostages taken by the militants on that day, Mr Gvili’s remains were the last held in the Palestinian territory.
“Know this, you cowards: Rani and the martyrs give us the strength to erase you from the world, to erase evil, to wipe out the seed of Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad,” Madam Gvili told the crowd of mourners, referring to the two Palestinian militant groups.
Mr Ran Gvili’s mother Talik Gvili described her son as “the first to leave, last to return”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
‘Hero of Israel’
During a speech at the ceremony, Mr Netanyahu described Mr Gvili as a “hero of Israel” and announced the creation of a new village in his honour.
He also warned Israel’s enemies that they would pay a heavy price if they attack Israel.
“We are determined to complete our missions: to disarm Hamas and demilitarise Gaza, and we will succeed. Let our enemies know that anyone who raises a hand against Israel will pay an exorbitant price,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) at Mr Gvili’s funeral in Meitar, Israel, on Jan 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The return of the hostages held in Gaza dragged on over the course of the war between Israel and Hamas in a series of ceasefire and prisoner-swop deals as well as efforts to rescue them militarily.
The most recent set of hostage handovers was part of the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal
The first phase of the deal stipulated the return of every hostage, and Mr Gvili’s family had opposed moving on to the second phase before they had received his remains.
Chairs with Mr Gvili’s portrait in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Jan 27.
PHOTO: AFP
Nicknamed the “Defender of Alumim” by his family and the kibbutz of that name, Mr Gvili was killed in combat during the October attack.
Earlier, a hush had fallen over the stadium as a large screen broadcast the arrival of the coffin carrying his body.
As some in the crowd began to cry, only muffled sobs broke the silence.
Hundreds of onlookers clutching Israeli flags had lined the roads as a convoy carrying Mr Gvili’s body headed from the Camp Shura military base in central Israel towards Meitar under an overcast sky.
Hundreds of onlookers had lined the roads as a convoy carrying Mr Gvili’s body headed from the military base Camp Shura in central Israel towards Meitar.
PHOTO: REUTERS
‘Suffering is immense’
“Today, my brother, this hero, has come home... You are the pride of the entire nation,” said Mr Gvili’s brother, Mr Omri Gvili, during the ceremony.
“Our suffering is immense, but the pride we feel for you is even greater,” he added.
On Jan 27, Mr Netanyahu said that Israel had “fully completed the sacred mission of returning all of our hostages”.
“Many generations will draw inspiration from Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel, and from all our other heroes... This is the generation of heroism. This is the generation of victory,” he said at a televised press conference.
A man holding a portrait of Mr Gvili at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Jan 27, before a clock counting the time hostages had been held in Gaza finally stopped.
PHOTO: AFP
Hundreds gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square late on Jan 27 as a clock counting the time hostages had been held in Gaza finally stopped
Mr Herzog said on Jan 26 it was the first time since 2014 that no Israeli citizens were held hostage in Gaza. AFP
