- January 26, 2026
- 5:19 pm
- Israel
The Israel Defense Forces officially confirmed on January 26, 2026: after the completion of the identification procedure, the body of Ran Gwili was found. His remains will be returned to Israel for burial. With this announcement, the hostage story concluded — there are no longer any Israelis held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
According to the press service of IDF, the identification process was conducted at the Institute of Forensic Medicine with the participation of the Israeli police and the military rabbinate. After this, an official army representative informed Ran Gwili’s family of the results.
According to intelligence data, Senior Lieutenant Ran Gwili, a 24-year-old fighter of the YASAM unit, died in battle on the day of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. His body was abducted and taken to Gaza. The location where the remains were found is not disclosed in the official statement.
The army emphasized: with the return of Ran Gwili, the process of returning all hostages is completed. This is a formulation that Israel has awaited for more than two years.
It later became known that the IDF operation to search for remains in northern Gaza was delayed by about a month by a decision of the political leadership. These details intensified public discussion around the timing and priorities of decision-making.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the operation an “outstanding achievement.” Addressing journalists, he said: “Ran, a hero of Israel, left first and returned last. We promised — and I promised — to return everyone. We returned everyone to the last one.”
A strong symbolic gesture was made by President Isaac Herzog. Live on air, he removed a yellow ribbon from his jacket lapel — a symbol of the struggle for the return of hostages, which had been worn in Israel since the fall of 2023.
The head of the “Yashar” party Gadi Eisenkot called the return of the last hostage’s remains a victory for the entire people of Israel. According to him, this operation reflected the essence of Israeli history — a country that does not forget its own and leaves no one behind, even after years and in the most difficult circumstances.
The leader of the “Democrats” party Yair Golan stated that today “a painful circle has closed.” He emphasized that the consolation for the family lies at least in the fact that Ran will be buried in the homeland he defended. “255 hostages returned home. We fought for each one,” he noted.
At the same time, Golan made a strong political point. According to him, the conclusion of the hostage chapter is not the end, but the beginning of the next stage. He demanded the immediate creation of a state commission of inquiry, stating that the state’s duty is to do everything to ensure that such a failure never happens again and that no Israeli family experiences such hell.
The return of Ran Gwili became not only a tragic conclusion to the hostage story but also a point after which Israeli society increasingly demands answers, accountability, and conclusions. It is this moment — between mourning, unity, and the demand for truth — that today defines the country’s internal agenda, consistently reflected by NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency, capturing events that shape the latest history of Israel.
