Father of last Israeli hostage in Gaza: Truce mustn’t advance until final 2 bodies returned

Thousands of people gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv Saturday evening for what may have been the final weekend rally calling for the release of the captives from Gaza, after more than two years of such protests.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said earlier this week that it would be greatly narrowing its activities now that only two deceased hostages abducted on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza: policeman Ran Gvili, killed fending off the Hamas invasion at Kibbutz Alumim; and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, who was killed in Kibbutz Be’eri, where he worked in agriculture.

Amid chants of “Until the last hostage” and “It’s not right nor left, the hostages are above all else,” Ran’s father, Itzik Gvili, addressed the crowd, saying that there must “no next phase” to the current Gaza ceasefire, and “no ‘day after’ in Gaza,” until Hamas returns the last two bodies.

“Hamas says it’s looking” for the bodies, Gvili said, “but we don’t see any progress. They’re messing with us, and it has to stop, now.”

During the Hamas-led onslaught — in which some 1,200 were killed and 251 taken hostage — Ran and his fellow officers rushed out to confront the invading Palestinian terrorists, fighting “shoulder to shoulder, as one, out of mutual accountability and unity,” Gvili said. “They didn’t stop to check your background or where you’re from — they valiantly protected anyone who needed help.”

“That was their spirit, and that’s the heritage they leave us,” said Gvili.

“Now the goal is to bring our Rani back home,” he said. “Enough with the pain and open wounds — we want to get off this rollercoaster.”

“It’s time to bring Sudthisak and Rani back and achieve closure,” said Gvili.

A spokesperson for the Hostages Families Forum said Friday that it hasn’t yet been announced whether there will be future rallies.

Also on Saturday evening, the Hostages’ Tent at the corner of Jerusalem’s Aza Road and Balfour, close to the Prime Minister’s Residence, was dismantled almost two years after it was set up in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre.

The tent was dismantled following a farewell event.

Jon Polin, father of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, also spoke in English to the Tel Aviv crowd on Saturday, offering a veiled criticism of the government’s refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the Hamas onslaught.

He noted that in next week’s Torah portion, Jacob wrestles with an angel who asks him what his name is, to which the patriarch answers, ‘Jacob’ — contrasting the way he had deceived his father, Isaac, by pretending to be his brother Esau.

“This time, Jacob owns who he is, and he faces the dishonesty of his past,” said Polin.

“Acknowledging our mistakes, speaking the truth — it can be hard. It requires courage and moral strength,” but only in so doing “can we heal our divisions and fulfill the full, tremendous potential of the people of Israel,” he noted.

Eyal Eshel, father of slain surveillance soldier Roni Eshel, was more explicit.

Every day that passes with the remains of hostages Gvili and Rinthalak still in Gaza “is a national disgrace,” said Eshel, adding that “instead of seeing a leadership eager to wrap up this story, we see a leadership determined to run away from it.”

“The government of Israel is doing everything so that a state commission of inquiry is not established,” he said. “It’s not just fear — it’s a manipulation by the authorities.”

The government voted to establish its own commission of inquiry last week, arguing that a statutory state commission of inquiry would not enjoy broad public support since its members would be selected by the Supreme Court president, whom the government views as an adversary and as the head of a judiciary it is seeking to weaken.

The government claims that the new commission would seek as broad public support as possible, despite public opinion polls consistently showing strong majorities in favor of a state commission.

The parameters for the government’s inquiry will be selected by a panel of ministers. It hasn’t yet been announced how the members of the commission of inquiry will be selected.

“We demand a state commission — not a political one, not ‘by consensus’ and not by any other name,” said Eshel. “An investigation that will name those responsible and dismantle the mechanisms of debacle.”