The body of IDF Master Sergeant Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage in captivity in Gaza, was located and brought back to Israel by the IDF on Monday afternoon, 843 days after he was kidnapped on October 7, 2023. His return marks the first time since 2014 that no Israeli hostages have been held in captivity in Gaza.
On October 7, 2023, 251 people were taken hostage by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza. Three other Israelis had been taken hostage by Hamas in 2014, and one other had been kidnapped by the terrorist movement in 2015.
Of the hostages taken on October 7, eight were rescued alive by Israeli forces throughout the war, five were released by Hamas outside of any ceasefire deal, 105 living hostages were released in a ceasefire in November 2023, 30 living hostages and the bodies of eight others were released in another ceasefire in January 2025. The bodies of 48 others were retrieved by the IDF throughout the war, and 20 living hostages and the bodies of the remaining 27 were released or retrieved by the IDF in the latest ceasefire reached in October.
The first to go out, the last to return
Gvili was a police officer in the Israel Police Special Patrol Unit (YASAM). When Hamas launched the October 7 attacks, Gvili was recovering in his parents’ home after breaking his shoulder in an accident.
His mother, Talik, recounted the day of the attacks. “Suddenly, he got up, put on his uniform, came down to us, and told me: ‘Mom, I’m going out.’ I asked him where he was going, and he told me ‘Do you really think I’ll stay home when I know my guys are fighting? No way.'”
His father, Itzik, added, “I asked him how he would shoot with his hand, and he made a firing motion and said, ‘Here is my hand. I’m ok. You see? I can cock the gun. I’ll be the driver, don’t worry.'”
Gvili rushed to the area of Kibbutz Alumim alongside other officers and soldiers. He fell during a firefight with Hamas terrorists, and his body was kidnapped by terrorists.
About a month ago, Israeli security forces arrested a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad due to suspicions that he knew where Gvili had been buried. The operative provided information that helped the Shin Bet and Israeli forces uncover further details that helped them pinpoint the area where Gvili was buried in a cemetery in northern Gaza.
On Saturday, the IDF launched Operation Brave Heart to locate Gvili’s body in the cemetery, searching hundreds of graves before finally finding him.
Gvili’s return was seen by many as a final closure after the war. After his return was confirmed, Israelis, Jews, and allies around the world published posts showing them taking off their hostage pins and others writing “it’s finally October 8th,” a reference to the feeling shared by many Israelis that this – not the ceasefire – marked the true end of the war.
After Gvili’s return, Talik expressed pride in the police, Israeli officials, and American officials who helped bring him home. “We are proud to have reached this point, especially when we know that those who got Rani out of that damned place are IDF soldiers,” she said on Monday. “Pride is much stronger than sadness. Rani has returned home, a hero of Israel; we are the proudest of him in the world.”
Itzik added that “I think if you were to ask Rani how he would have liked to go, this is his way, and this is the honor. I think he saved us, saved the people of Israel, saved Kibbutz Alumim, and now he has received the honor that he truly deserves from all of Israel. He united the people of Israel. Rani always loved to unite people, and he united the country.”
Despite the return of the hostages being a central commitment in the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist movement dragged its feet in fulfilling this requirement. Hamas claimed on Sunday that it had held up its end of the deal and provided all the information it had on Gvili’s location. However, Israeli media reported that Hamas only confirmed details that Israel recently uncovered through intelligence efforts after Israel requested that the mediators confirm the information with Hamas. In the end, it was Israeli intelligence and field efforts that led to Gvili’s return.
With stage one finally completed, the Gaza peace plan moves to stage two
Gvili’s return is consequential for the Gaza peace plan and marks the final fulfillment of all the conditions of stage one. Many Israelis insisted over the past few weeks that the Gaza peace plan should not move forward to stage two until Gvili was returned, expressing concerns that if it did, he would be left behind.
Despite these concerns, the United States announced earlier this month that it was moving forward to stage two of the deal. In mid-January, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) – the Palestinian technocratic committee that will govern Gaza until further notice – was revealed.
Last week, the Board of Peace – which will oversee the implementation of the Gaza plan – was unveiled as well, along with new details about the next steps in the reconstruction process.
With Gvili’s return, the Gaza plan will now move forward to stage two with broader support, with the opening of the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza expected in the coming days as a first step in that direction.
Many questions remain about the next steps in the Gaza plan, however. The agreement for rebuilding Gaza is at least partially conditioned on Hamas giving up its weapons and control of Gaza.
On Thursday, Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas and the U.S. had reached an agreement in which the terrorist movement would hand over its weapons and maps of its tunnels across Gaza, while Hamas would be allowed to continue to exist as a solely political party.
A Palestinian source who spoke with Sky News Arabia added that “the understandings stipulate allowing any Hamas political and military leaders who wish to leave the Gaza Strip to do so, with an American pledge that Israel will not target them or the leaders already abroad in the future.”
The source added that the U.S. is working to integrate some Hamas police officers and former employees into the new Gaza administration after they go through an Israeli-American security check. The U.S. told other mediators that “Israel has significant reservations about a number of these understandings,” according to the report.
However, on Monday, a source in Hamas denied the Sky News Arabia report in comments to the Ultra Palestine news outlet, saying that “No such agreement has been reached, neither with the American administration nor with any international or regional party, nor was this scenario ever put on the table in any of the official or unofficial meetings.”
The source stressed that Hamas had only conducted “exploratory” discussions with some mediators recently about general questions concerning the Palestinian factions’ vision for their weapons.
On Sunday, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya openly rejected demands that the movement disarm, stating that its weapons are a “legitimate right.” He added that “We are open to studying any proposals that preserve this right while ensuring the establishment of the Palestinian state.”
Even if Hamas disarms, there are concerns about what could happen if it’s allowed to maintain a presence in Gaza. Hamas had its start as a purely social, religious, and political movement. It emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood as a da’wa (literally “inviting,” referring to outreach or proselytizing) movement focused on reviving religious belief and practice through outreach. However, it quickly developed into a terrorist group, similar to many other Muslim Brotherhood branches. Hamas was behind a series of suicide bombings and other attacks throughout the 1990s and 2000s, even before it took power over Gaza in 2007.
There are some fears that if Hamas is allowed to remain in Gaza in any form, it will simply repeat history, slowly rebuilding its militant capacities while pretending to be only focused on social and political efforts. It may also try to rebuild its popularity in order to undermine the new government of Gaza, in a similar fashion to how it undermined the Palestinian Authority before launching a coup to take full control of Gaza in 2007.
If Hamas does not agree to voluntarily give up its arms, the Gaza peace plan stipulates that force will be used to disarm it. According to the plan, an International Stabilization Force is supposed to be established to take over security control of Gaza and handle the disarmament of Hamas. As the disarmament is completed, the IDF is supposed to gradually withdraw from the half of Gaza it’s currently holding.
However, the U.S. has reportedly struggled to find countries willing to take part in the ISF. Azerbaijan, one of the countries that was expected to join the force, announced earlier this month that it wouldn’t consider joining. The Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have reportedly expressed concerns about risking their forces to forcibly demilitarize Gaza, as well.
A failure to form the ISF may place the burden of disarming Hamas back on Israel. The Israeli Channel 14 reported on Monday that the U.S. plans to present a document in the coming days detailing a timeline and clear plan for how Hamas is expected to disarm. According to the report, Hamas will have a few weeks to hand over its weapons to an international force; if Hamas does not meet the deadline set, Israel will be given freedom to act as it wishes against the terrorist movement. This implies that the job of forcibly disarming Hamas will fall on Israel, not an international force.
A senior American official told Israeli media on Monday evening that the reconstruction of Gaza would not begin before the process to demilitarize the Strip begins. The official emphasized that Israel and the U.S. are working together on the issue.
A U.S. official speaking to Reuters added that “We are listening to many of their people talk about disarming. We think they’re going to. If they don’t disarm, then they’ve breached the deal. We think disarmament comes along with some sort of amnesty and candidly we think we have a very, very good program to disarm.”
Originally Published Jan 27, 2026 04:45PM EST
