JNS
The Israeli military on Monday released new details about "Operation Brave Heart."
"The pride is so much stronger than the sadness," Talik Gvili said on Monday, speaking with reporters outside the family home in Meitar, southern Israel, hours after her son's body was retrieved from Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that the remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, was found in Gaza.
With the return of Gvili, a 24-year-old Police Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) officer at the time of his death, the terrorist organization is not holding any hostages in the Strip for the first time since 2014, the IDF noted.
"We are a strong, alive people of Israel," Gvili's mother told Reuters. "We really want to thank everyone here: all those who helped and supported and gave us so much strength over these two years and four months.
"We have a closure," the bereaved mother stated, adding: "Rani returned home an Israeli hero—really, an Israeli hero, and we are the most proud of him in the world."
His sister, Shira Gvili, thanked U.S. President Donald Trump, his special envoy Steve Witkoff, Board of Peace member Jared Kushner" and other "people behind the scenes" in her statement to Reuters.
"Mr. President, when you looked in our eyes and you said, 'We're going to bring Ran home,' and you promised us, we believed you, and we are thankful for this," she said. "I want to thank everyone who helped us."
The Israeli military on Monday evening released new details about "Operation Brave Heart" that led to the discovery of Gvili's remains.
According to the IDF, 20 military dentists helped soldiers examine some 250 bodies in just over 24 hours, after intelligence narrowed down the search to a specific plot inside a cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip.
As part of the intelligence efforts, multiple Palestinians from Gaza were detained and interrogated, providing information about the specific section of the cemetery where Gvili was buried, the IDF revealed.
According to Israel's Channel 12, around three months ago, the IDF's Southern Command granted a request by soldiers to move the truce-instituted Yellow Line to include the Muslim cemetery, citing security concerns that the area contained locations hidden from troops' view.
Without the expansion of the Yellow Line and subsequent clearing of the area, soldiers would likely have been unable to operate freely without Hamas's consent, according to the Channel 12 report.
An IDF soldier who took part in the operation told the broadcaster that troops secured and provided cover for the compound while specialist units, including military dentists, exhumed around 700 graves.
Gvili was found wrapped in a body bag from Gaza's Hamas-affiliated Shifa Hospital while still wearing his police uniform, shoes and belt.
Hebrew media on Monday aired footage of Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy telling Gvili's parents that their son "was found intact in his police uniform." The top cop added: "I don't know if this is comforting, but it is important for you to know."
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Monday visited the cemetery where Gvili was found and spoke with the reservists and medical teams who took part in the operation, according to an IDF statement.
"Ran Gvili's body has been located, and with this, in effect, our primary mission has been completed: the return of all hostages, the living and the fallen, to their homes, their country, their families," Zamir stated.
"For more than two years, we have been waiting for this moment, the return of the last hostage," the chief of staff said, adding: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this moment."
"This mission has been completed. I want to express great appreciation to you," he told the soldiers. "We have completed our objective of war."
The chief of staff concluded, "Ahead of us lies the continuation of our effort—we will continue to pursue our enemies wherever they may be."
A separate military statement on Monday evening paid respects to "the hundreds of civilians murdered, the 924 IDF soldiers who fell in battle and fought with bravery in order to achieve the war’s goals and the moral duty to return the hostages, as well as the security forces personel who risked their lives, the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones and the 20,000 injured individuals in body and in soul who were wounded for the protection of the State of Israel.
Israeli soldiers "operated day and night, on the front lines and deep in enemy territory, while greatly endangering their lives, with unwavering determination and a deep commitment to the sanctity of life, in order to establish conditions that would allow the return of all hostages," it said.
