- Sergeant Ran Gvili, a member of the Yasam police unit
By SCM Staff Writer
TEL AVIV — The Israeli military announced on Monday that all hostages held in the Gaza Strip, both living and deceased, have been returned to Israel, marking the end of a grueling 843-day national ordeal that began with the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
The final closure came after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) identified and recovered the remains of Master Sergeant Ran Gvili, a member of the Yasam police unit. His return concluded a mission that had become the defining moral and military objective of the longest war in Israel’s history.
“The return of all the hostages… represents the promise between the IDF and the citizens of the State of Israel—to never leave anyone behind,” the military said in a statement.
A Long-Awaited Resolution
The announcement covers not only the 251 people seized during the 2023 massacre but also four Israelis held in Gaza for over a decade: civilians Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, and the remains of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed during the 2014 conflict.
For Israel, the news brings a somber mixture of relief and profound mourning.
While some hostages were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in late 2023 or rescued in high-risk special operations, many others returned in coffins.
The IDF’s announcement was an explicit acknowledgment of the heavy toll paid to reach this moment, noting that 924 soldiers had fallen in battle since the start of the war.
‘The Primary Mission’
The IDF’s statement today was notably reflective, beginning with a rare and blunt admission of the failure that started the conflict.
“On the morning of Oct. 7, the IDF failed in its primary mission—to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the military said.
It described the subsequent two years of combat as a “moral duty” to rectify that failure, involving joint operations between the Southern Command, intelligence directorates, and the Shin Bet security agency.
The recovery of Sergeant Gvili’s remains served as the final piece of a complex puzzle that spanned nearly 28 months of urban warfare and subterranean searches across the Gaza Strip.
A Nation Scared by War
While the return of the hostages closes a significant chapter, the scars of the conflict remain deep.
The military noted that beyond the 1,200 people murdered on Oct. 7, more than 20,000 Israelis have been injured “in body and in soul” over the course of the fighting.
In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the news was met with quiet reflection rather than celebration.
For many families, the return of a loved one for burial offers a chance for a final goodbye, but it does not erase the trauma of the nearly 850 days of uncertainty.
The IDF concluded its announcement with a pledge to “implement the lessons” of the disaster and to ensure that the breach of Israel’s borders never happens again.
For a nation that has been on a war footing for over two years, the return of the last hostage marks the end of a campaign, but the beginning of a long process of national recovery.
