'Pride of the entire nation': Israel buries last Gaza hostage
Israel on Wednesday laid to rest the last hostage from Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned at the funeral that the country's enemies would pay a heavy price for any future aggression.
Netanyahu's threat came as Hamas told AFP it was prepared to carry out a full transfer of governance in Gaza to a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee established under a US-backed ceasefire plan.
Hundreds of tearful mourners packed a stadium in southern Israel on Wednesday for the funeral of Ran Gvili, the last Gaza hostage whose burial marked the end of a painful national saga triggered by Hamas's 2023 attack.
Israeli forces on Monday brought home the remains of Gvili, who was killed in action and whose body Palestinian militants took into Gaza during their attack.
A large banner bearing Gvili's portrait hung inside a stadium in Meitar, the hometown of the 24-year-old police officer, where crowds gathered for his funeral before he was laid to rest.
In front of the sombre crowd, which included tearful family members, Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, Gvili's coffin lay draped in an Israeli flag.
"I hoped you would come back on your own two feet, and that gave me strength," said his mother Talik Gvili in her eulogy, describing her son as "the first to leave, last to return".
"For two years and four months, we talked about you constantly, and you became everyone's child," she added.
"Rani, you are with me all the time."
Herzog hailed the return of his remains but said he could only regret not having known Gvili while he was alive.
"Gvili family, I ask you, as president, for forgiveness that we were not there for him... an entire nation mourns with you today," he said during the ceremony.
An officer in the elite Yassam unit, Gvili was on medical leave ahead of shoulder surgery when Hamas launched its deadly attack in southern Israel, but grabbed his gun and raced towards the area.
Of the 251 hostages taken by militants on that day, Gvili's were the last remains held in the Palestinian territory.
"Know this, you cowards: Rani and the martyrs give us the strength to erase you from the world, to erase evil, to wipe out the seed of Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad," Talik Gvili told the crowd of mourners, referring to the two Palestinian militant groups.
- 'Hero of Israel' -
Netanyahu described Gvili as a "hero of Israel" and announced the creation of a new village in his honour as he offered his eulogy.
He warned Israel's enemies that they would pay a heavy price if they attacked Israel.
"We are determined to complete our missions: to disarm Hamas and demilitarise Gaza, and we will succeed. Let our enemies know that anyone who raises a hand against Israel will pay an exorbitant price," he said.
The return of the hostages from Gaza dragged on over the course of the war between Israel and Hamas in a series of ceasefire and prisoner-swap deals as well as efforts to rescue them militarily.
The most recent set of hostage handovers was part of the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal that took effect on October 10.
The first phase of the deal stipulated the return of every hostage, and Gvili's family had opposed moving on to the second phase before they had received his remains.
Nicknamed the "Defender of Alumim" by his family and the kibbutz of that name, Gvili was killed in combat during the October attack.
Earlier, a hush had fallen over the stadium as a large screen broadcast the arrival of the coffin carrying his body.
As some in the crowd began to cry, only muffled sobs broke the silence.
Hundreds of onlookers clutching Israeli flags had lined the roads as a convoy carrying Gvili's body headed from the military base Camp Shura in central Israel towards Meitar under an overcast sky.
- 'Suffering is immense' -
"Today, my brother, this hero, has come home... you are the pride of the entire nation," said Gvili's brother Omri during the ceremony.
"Our suffering is immense, but the pride we feel for you is even greater."
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Israel had "fully completed the sacred mission of returning all of our hostages".
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem meanwhile said the group was ready to transfer the governance of Gaza to the Palestinian committee.
"Protocols are prepared, files are complete, and committees are in place to oversee the handover, ensuring a complete transfer of governance in the Gaza Strip across all sectors to the technocratic committee," Qassem said.
The committee is charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza and will work under the supervision of the "Board of Peace", chaired by US President Donald Trump.
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D.Franke--BVZ
