Israel has transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the Red Cross in return for the recovery of Sgt. First Class Ran Gvili, the last hostage, even though his body was retrieved by IDF forces from a cemetery in Gaza City and not handed over by Hamas.
The move appears to be based on intelligence reportedly provided by Hamas, which indicated the location of the soldier’s remains in a Gaza cemetery.
According to the agreement reached with Hamas to end the war, Israel committed to transferring the remains of 15 Palestinians for each fallen Israeli soldier returned, via the International Committee of the Red Cross. Despite the fact that Hamas did not physically return the body, Israel has chosen to honor the terms of the deal. A senior Israeli official confirmed that the transfer of the bodies is part of the agreement.
Palestinian media reported that preparations were underway in Gaza on Wednesday afternoon to receive the 15 bodies as part of the exchange.
Funeral procession for lst returned hostage Ran Gvili
(Video: GPO, Shilo Freid)
Gvili, who was laid to rest Tuesday in the military section of the Meitar cemetery, served in the elite Yasam Negev unit of the Israel Police’s Southern District. On October 7, despite having recently suffered a motorcycle accident and being scheduled for surgery on a broken shoulder, Gvili joined the fighting. He managed to save the lives of dozens of partygoers at the Re’im music festival before being killed and abducted near Kibbutz Alumim. He became known as “Rani, the protector of Alumim.”
On Monday—843 days after the October 7 massacre—Gvili’s remains were located in a Palestinian cemetery in eastern Gaza City. The recovery operation, named Braveheart, was complex and involved numerous teams dedicated to search and identification efforts. During the mission, the bodies of 250 Palestinians were examined before Gvili was identified by the police uniform he was wearing and the shoes he had on the day he was killed near Alumim.