Hundreds gathered Saturday evening in the southern town of Meitar for a vigil demanding the return of Ran Gvili, the last hostage in Hamas captivity, whose body has not yet been recovered.
Among those attending were his mother, Talik Gvili, and Iris Haim and Tzvika Mor, the parents of former hostages who were either rescued or killed in earlier stages of the war.
“Thank you all for coming—you are our strength,” said Gvili’s mother, addressing the crowd. “Even the head of military intelligence told us: keep his name out there, say it as often as possible. We hope that by next week, we won’t need to be here again. We are praying for a miracle.”
Iris Haim, whose son Yotam was mistakenly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza after being taken hostage on October 7, also spoke, sharing emotional reflections.
“I had written something, but I’m just going to speak freely,” she said. “When I look at the seven candles burning, it brings me back to Hanukkah. On the eighth day, my Yotam was killed.”
Haim recalled her first encounter with the Gvili family at the beginning of the war. “There was an immediate bond. Around 50 days into the war, we still didn’t understand what was happening. We stepped out of the race on day 70, when Yotam was killed. But I believe Yotam and Rani left us a mission. We have the strength not only to bring Rani home, but to go beyond that.”
She posed a difficult question to the audience: “Why is Rani the last one? I have an answer, though I don’t know if it’ll resonate. I think it’s not by chance. Look how many people came out to Meitar, this isn’t Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.”
“We’re taking responsibility,” she concluded. “Everyone who was murdered, kidnapped or killed because of October 7 leaves behind a message: we must change. What’s the next chapter for Israeli society? To stand together, look each other in the eye and stop defining one another by politics. We are one people. October 7 happened to all of us. We cannot move forward until we write the next chapter in how we live together, and we can’t start that chapter until Rani comes home.”