Father of last Israeli hostage in Gaza fears Hamas could hold his son’s body for years

The father of the last slain Israeli hostage, Ran Gvili, fears the Hamas terrorist organization could hold his son’s body in Gaza for years.

“We pray of course that he will not be another Ron Arad or [Hadar] Goldin,” Itzik Gvili said in an interview with Israel's Kan News. “That we don’t drag it out for many more years,”

Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili (24) was killed during a battle with Hamas terrorists on Kibbutz Alumim during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack in southern Israel. His body was kidnapped to Gaza, along with 250 other hostages, both living and deceased.

Ron Arad was an Israeli Air Force navigator who went missing in action in Lebanon in 1986. Arad is believed to be dead, and the State of Israel has tried for decades to retrieve his remains. The IDF soldier Hadar Goldin was killed during the Gaza War in 2014, and Hamas refused for years to return his body for burial in Israel. Earlier this month, Goldin’s body was returned to Israel after being held by Hamas for 11 years in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is also holding the remains of a Thai national, Sudthisak Rinthalak (43).

“We’re moving forward because we have to,” Itzik told Kan News. “Hamas says they’re looking for his body, but we don’t see any progress,” he said, adding, “They probably know where he is. They are playing games and deceiving us.”

Itzik also commented on the role of Israeli authorities in the effort to locate his son’s remains, saying, “I know that they don’t know much” about the location of Ran’s body.

While his son was officially declared dead by Israeli authorities in January 2024, the father still hopes Ran could miraculously return home alive.

“As far as I am concerned, until Ran comes back, he is alive,” Itzik explained. “I have nothing else to hope for. Perhaps there will be a miracle, and he will still be alive.”

He described his son as a “hero” who battled for Israel during the Oct. 7 attack. “Just like Ran didn’t forget the nation on that day, I don’t want the nation to forget him.”

In a separate interview, Ran’s mother, Talik Gvili, told Ynet News that the family is going through “an unsettling time.” She said that she was glad the other “hostages returned and families are getting closure and can begin breathing again as much as possible.”

“We hope that they will find him,” Talik told the Ynet, admitting that she is also hoping for “a miracle.”

“From the first day, I have been imagining him returning on his own two feet. It is hard, not easy to imagine something like that,” she explained.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an NGO that was established to support the families of Oct. 7 victims and hostages, recently announced that it would close its office and focus on bringing home the final deceased hostages from Gaza, including Gvili.