Israel gives mediators intelligence to locate body of last hostage

Jerusalem rejects Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s “lie” that it does not possess Ran Gvili’s remains.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israel has supplied information to mediators on how to locate the last hostage’s body in Gaza, in a sharp rebuttal to the terrorists who claim they do not possess it, Ynet reported Wednesday.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Iranian-backed Gaza proxy allied with Hamas, claimed Tuesday that it had returned all the hostages it held after transferring the body of Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak last week.

PIJ had kidnapped the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili after its gunmen killed him in a firefight at Kibbutz Alumim during the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, the coordinator for the hostages and the missing in the Prime Minister’s Office, provided mediators with aerial photos of the area where the IDF believes Gvili can be found, the names of individuals likely to know the body’s location, and other relevant intelligence, an Israeli source told Ynet.

The mediators received “a strong message” from the Israeli side, the source said. “There is someone in the Islamic Jihad organization who knows where Rani is…. We will not give up until Rani is buried in Israel.”

The PIJ claim “is a lie,” the source added, and Israel “resolutely” rejects it.

Senior officials in Qatar – the primary negotiators with Hamas during hostage negotiations throughout the War of Revival – have demanded that Israel move on to the second stage of the Trump peace plan.

Jerusalem, however, remains adamant that no actions regarding the future governance of the Gaza Strip will proceed until Stage 1 is complete.

The first phase required the return of all remaining hostages within 72 hours of the Oct. 10 cease-fire agreement.

The issue of Gvili’s return “is not a tactical event,” the source said. “It is a significant event in the implementation of the agreement…. Hamas is obligated to return all the fallen…. We will not give up, we will not compromise, and we will not stop demanding Rani’s return in any way.”

Eager to start Stage 2, the Americans are reportedly urging mediators to use their influence in Gaza to locate Gvili.

At an event at the National Library of Israel Tuesday night, American Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sounded a positive note, saying, “I hope that the last kidnapped person will be brought to Israel in the next 24 or 48 hours.”

As part of his visit to Israel this week, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Walz met Monday with Gvili’s parents.

He “expressed the United States’ commitment – and his own – to completing the mission of returning the hostages and bringing Rani, of blessed memory, to a burial in Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on the meeting.

President Donald Trump has said he hopes to move to the next phase of the peace plan by late December or early January.

Gvili’s parents have repeatedly expressed fear that their son would be left behind, as happened to the family of fallen soldier Hadar Goldin, whose body was held by Hamas for 11 years after 2014’s Operation Protective Edge and returned only last month under the current cease-fire deal.

Despite the PIJ claim, Hamas and Red Cross representatives were seen Tuesday allegedly searching for Gvili’s body in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.