Israel marks the return of the final hostage’s remains after more than two years of war and grief

JERUSALEM (AP) — For more than two years, Israelis wore yellow ribbons to remember the hostages abducted during the deadliest day in the country’s history. On Tuesday, they finally could remove those ribbons and shut down a haunting clock in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, marking the end of a painful chapter.

The return of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer killed while fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, fulfilled nationwide hopes to return all the hostages, living or dead.

Forensic teams combed a cemetery in northern Gaza, working to locate, exhume and identify Gvili’s remains as part of a broad effort involving search crews, intelligence officers and forensic dentists.

The October ceasefire that paused two years of war required Hamas to return 20 living hostages and the remains of 28 deceased. The living hostages and the remains of four others were handed over the day the ceasefire took effect.

But attempts to recover more became a sticking point after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tied the reopening of a border crossing in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, to their return. Under the terms of the agreement, Israel pledged to return the remains of 15 Palestinians for each Israeli body recovered.

Now, with Gvili’s remains back in Israel, attention has turned toward what comes next in Gaza.

In a news conference late Tuesday, Netanyahu said his focus was now on disarming Hamas and destroying its remaining tunnels, saying there would be no reconstruction in Gaza without demilitarization.

“As I agreed with President Trump, there are only two possibilities: either it will be done the easy way or it will be done the hard way,” he said. “In any case, it will happen.“

Netanyahu reiterated his stance that Turkish and Qatari soldiers will not be allowed to participate in an international security force in Gaza and his opposition to a Palestinian state. He vowed that Israel would retain permanent security control from the Jordan border to the Mediterranean Sea.

Thousands of people in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square watched and some cheered Tuesday as the clock flashing the number of days since the 2023 attack stopped at 843 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes and 59 seconds — a bittersweet ending in a place that became the focal point for the campaign to release the hostages.

“It’s like we have been released from this huge rock hanging from our heart,” said Ofra Ophir, a retired nursery schoolteacher from Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv.

Sharone Lifschitz, whose parents were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, said while it was “miraculous” all the hostages are now home, there was still a lot of healing ahead.

Her mother, Yocheved, then 83, was released after two weeks, while her father Oded, 85, died in captivity.

“I don’t feel the hostage saga is over, but the return of the hostages is over,” Lifschitz said. “I’m really grateful we have no more hostages, but all of them could have been back much earlier, all of them could have been saved.”

A spokesman for the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, said investigators got a breakthrough in the search for Gvili’s body after interrogating a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose information corroborated intelligence and led them to the cemetery. Shin Bet said the body had been moved several times.

“More than 20 dentists from the unit worked together for over 24 hours, scanning approximately 250 bodies until the identification of Master Sergeant Ran Gvili,” a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under army protocol.

Militant groups in Gaza contested Israel’s narrative, with both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad saying they provided Israel with information to locate the remains.

Saraya al-Quds, Islamic Jihad’s military wing, said it shared coordinates with Israel through Arab mediators. Hamas said it also provided information.

Two U.S. officials, who insisted on anonymity per the rules of a call setup by the White House, credited Egypt, Qatar and Turkey with helping to get Hamas to release Gvili’s body.

Palestinians living near the cemetery said remains exhumed during the search were left exposed in the cemetery without reburial.

“Our dead are in the open. They left them without burial or after just covering them with soil,” said Mohamed Matter, whose relatives are buried in the cemetery. He and others said they attempted to reach the area but were turned away by Israeli forces.

Two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike while attempting to reach the area of the cemetery and taken to Shifa Hospital where they were pronounced dead, according to hospital officials. Israel’s military said it was unaware of strikes and cautioned against relying on unverified reports.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassam said Tuesday that Israeli forces had exhumed “hundreds of graves,” calling it a pattern of showing disrespect.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who will deliver a eulogy at Gvili’s funeral on Wednesday, said returning the remains has “closed the circle” for Israel.” But in Gaza, families living in tents without heat said today felt much like yesterday.

In Khan Younis, they questioned whether their lives would improve as the ceasefire agreement moves toward a second phase, with some doubting whether Israel will follow through on a promise to open the Rafah crossing along the Egyptian border, Gaza’s lifeline to the outside world.

“The crossing is supposed to open now after the last soldier’s body was found,” said Ali Abu Al-Eish, a former resident of Rafah. “Why is it still closed? We have many sick people here.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry says about 20,000 Palestinians require medical evacuation from Gaza.

“Why are Hamas and Israel stalling?” said Ayda Abu Dheisha. “Let them reach an agreement and resolve this for us. We want to return to our land and our homes.”

Both are among roughly one million residents displaced from Rafah, which remains an Israeli military zone. Israeli officials have said the crossing is expected to reopen with limits following Gvili’s return.

Israel has said Rafah would first open only to people, not goods, which continue to enter Gaza through crossings from Israel. But it has offered few details about who may be eligible to pass through and whether departures will be limited to medical evacuees.

Neither side withdrew from the four-month-old ceasefire during its initial phase, as international mediators pressed Israel and Hamas toward subsequent steps. Those are expected to be more challenging. In addition to reopening Rafah, they include demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule.

President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, published in October, left details vague and major questions unanswered about the ceasefire’s next phase, including when Israeli forces might withdraw from areas they currently control, allowing displaced Palestinians to return.

Also unknown is how any new governing arrangement would be enforced, and when large-scale reconstruction in Gaza could begin.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 488 people killed since the start of the ceasefire. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains casualty records that are viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.

___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed.

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