Grieving relatives of Ran Gvili gathered on Wednesday as Israel prepared to bury the last hostage returned from Gaza, marking the end of a painful national saga triggered by Hamas’s 2023 attack.
A large banner bearing the portrait of Gvili hung behind a low stage in a stadium in the southern town of Meitar, where the 24-year-old police officer had lived and where he will be laid to rest.
Hundreds of mourners including families and children slowly filled the space, where a large screen projected the funeral procession and police officers and uniformed soldiers sat in plastic chairs.
Some attendees carried Israeli flags and some wore the yellow ribbon that has come to symbolise Israel’s hostage ordeal for more than two years.
Israeli forces on Monday brought home the remains of Gvili, who was killed in action during Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 which triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Of the 251 hostages taken by militants on that day, Gvili’s were the last remains held in the Palestinian territory.
The officer in the elite Yassam unit was on medical leave ahead of shoulder surgery when Hamas launched its deadly attack in southern Israel, but grabbed his gun and raced towards the area.
Nicknamed the “Defender of Alumim” by his family and the kibbutz of that name, Gvili was killed in combat and Hamas militants took his body to Gaza.
Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of onlookers clutching Israeli flags lined the roads as a convoy carrying Gvili’s body headed from the military base Camp Shura in central Israel towards Meitar.
A line of police officers stood to salute the passing coffin under an overcast sky.
– ‘Hero of Israel’ –
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to speak in Meitar at the funeral ceremony later on Wednesday.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel had “fully completed the sacred mission of returning all of our hostages”.
“Ran was the first to charge, and Rani was the last to return,” he said during a televised press conference.
“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.”
The return of the hostages held in Gaza dragged on over the course of the more than two-year war in a series of ceasefire and prisoner-swap 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 that took effect on October 10.
Hundreds gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square late on Tuesday as a clock counting the time hostages had been held in Gaza finally stopped.
“Thank you for not giving up,” said former hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Monday it was the first time since 2014 that no Israeli citizens were held hostage in Gaza.
