Against the backdrop of the declaration on moving to phase two of the deal without the return of Ran Gvili, the last abducted body still held in Gaza after 833 days, members of Kibbutz Eyal gathered Friday for a Kabbalat Shabbat vigil in Hostages Square, calling for his return. They were joined by families of hostages, residents of communities near Gaza, supporters, kibbutz members, representatives of the kibbutz movement, and former captive Agam Berger and her family.
Itzik Gvili, Ran’s father, said during the gathering, “It is no coincidence that Rani is the last one. Nearly two years ago, we joked when we heard Rani had been taken and said he would tell them to free everyone and say, ‘I’ll manage.’ It was said as a joke, and in the end it happened. But it is not random. Rani did many things, including on October 7. He always cared about connecting everyone, friends and weaker groups alike. In the army, in school and in the police, he was like a magnet. Rani was everyone’s magnet. He connected people and loved everyone.
“Many things he did, in hindsight, without knowing it,” the father continued. “He saved a friend, a Border Police officer who usually goes running every Saturday morning in Zikim, and Rani told him not to go out. Just as he does not know about all the uniqueness happening here. All the people here, from right and left, all of us together, the entire country together for Rani. That is so him. His dream was to see us love one another. Everything you are doing for us is not taken for granted. One big thank you.”
Agam Berger played the song “Habaita” on the violin, and after the Kabbalat Shabbat said, “I am here to keep the promise to bring Ran home, to his home, to his country, to his homeland, to his family, to us. I am marking a year since I was brought home, but we will not truly be home until Ran returns. We are praying for his return, and this melody is dedicated to bringing him back.”
Danny Miran, the father of Omri Miran, who stands every Friday at the square for Kabbalat Shabbat, said after the performance, “I hope this will be the last time this song is played in the square. We were not truly with the Goldin family, which fought for more than nine years with a small group to bring their son Hadar back for burial in Israel. We will not allow a situation in which a family struggles alone to bring back its child. We will not let you be alone. This child belongs to all of us. Rani is the child of the state, and it is all of our duty to take part in the struggle to bring him back.
“I remind everyone of the unwritten, unsigned covenant. All the families of the hostages promised one another one thing: until the last hostage. I am concerned by the fact that in recent days we are hearing about moving to phase two of the deal without the return of Ran, based on the clause in phase two about disarming Hamas. From here, from the square, the demand must go out to move to the next phase only after completing phase one. The day you return, Ran, will seal the tragedy of the people of Israel. That will be the true day of victory of this bloody war.”
Hamas on the search: ‘Working to overcome obstacles’
Meanwhile, senior Hamas figure Taher al-Nunu told the newspaper “Al-Araby al-Jadeed” that the organization is committed to handing over the last body in the Gaza Strip and is “working to overcome the obstacles” to reaching it. However, according to Palestinian sources, searches for the body on the ground were halted about a week ago and have not resumed, and there is currently no active effort to locate it.
Al-Nunu said that discussions held in Cairo in recent days focused solely on establishing an administrative committee to govern the Gaza Strip, accusing Israel of trying to divert the talks to the issue of disarmament. He also claimed that Israel is “evading its commitments under the agreement” by keeping the Rafah crossing closed.
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Hamas terrorists during what were described as searches for the abducted body of Ran Gvili in Gaza City on January 8
(Photo: AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A source close to Hamas told ynet that the matter is not linked to Hamas but to Islamic Jihad, and that Hamas does not view it as a central issue. According to the source, opening the Rafah crossing and advancing to phase two of the agreement are far more important to Hamas due to their direct impact on humanitarian and economic conditions in Gaza.
According to the same source, Ran Gvili was previously held in one of the tunnels and transferred between several of them, after which contact was lost with his guards after he and the guards were killed. Since then, the source said, Islamic Jihad conducted searches in several locations without success, and no remains were found.
The source added that limited indications were recently received pointing to a specific area, where Hamas operatives arrived together with representatives of the Red Cross. Those efforts also yielded no findings. The searches, the source said, are not being carried out continuously and at this stage are not taking place at all.
According to the source, Hamas is “turning over every stone” so the issue will not become an obstacle to moving to phase two of the agreement and opening the Rafah crossing. He added that Israel also has no concrete information regarding Gvili’s location, and that the Americans and Egyptians are closely monitoring developments, but at this stage his whereabouts remain unknown.
At the same time, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told “Al-Araby al-Jadeed” that the organization is demanding that Washington “compel Israel to meet the requirements of the first phase of the Gaza agreement.” He described comments by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, regarding the launch of phase two as a “positive and important development.” Qassem said Hamas remains committed to the agreement, including the prisoner exchange issue, and expressed willingness to transfer management of the Gaza Strip to an independent technocratic committee.
In Israel, officials are closely watching the gap between Hamas’ statements and the situation on the ground, particularly given that searches for Gvili are not currently underway, with the issue continuing to hover over negotiations on the continuation of the agreement.