IDF confirms searching for body of Ran Gvili at cemetery in northern Gaza Strip

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Sunday evening that it was searching for the remains of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in the Gaza Strip, on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line in the enclave’s north.

Israel has resisted moving forward with phase 2 of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza — including reopening the Rafah Crossing between the Strip and Egypt — before Gvili’s body has been returned. Hamas has maintained that it does not know the exact location of his remains and has made attempts to search.

The search operation began over the weekend, based on intelligence information that the body was buried at a Muslim cemetery in eastern Gaza City, near the neighborhoods of Shejaiya, Daraj, and Tuffah.

Troops and forensic experts, including dentists, were operating in the area in an attempt to locate and identify Gvili’s remains and bring them back to Israel for burial, according to the army.

The search was taking place on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, though some forces were deployed over it, on the Hamas side, for security purposes, military officials said.

The intelligence on Gvili’s body possibly being buried at the cemetery had been known to the IDF for a while, though recently the information was made clearer, both following IDF operations and information provided by Hamas to Israel via mediators.

The terror group said in a statement earlier Sunday that the IDF was searching for Gvili’s remains based on information that it had provided to mediators.

“We affirm that we have conveyed to the mediators all the details and information that we have regarding the location of the prisoner’s body,” said a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. “What confirms this is that the enemy is currently searching in one of the locations based on information given to the mediators by the Qassam Brigades.”

The IDF countered, however, that Hamas had not provided Israel with the intelligence on the location, but had only confirmed information that the military already had.

The IDF said that while it is credible that Gvili’s remains are located at the cemetery, there are other potential intelligence leads on where his body could be.

The operation could last several days at most, according to IDF estimates, as dozens or hundreds of bodies are believed to be buried at the cemetery.

In a separate statement confirming the operation, the Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday that the search effort in northern Gaza for Gvili’s body will “continue as long as necessary.”

“The State of Israel is determined to return Ran Gvili, of blessed memory, for a proper Jewish burial,” the statement added. “His family is receiving constant updates and is familiar with the details of the operation.”

A Channel 12 news report Sunday night said that while Israel had held intelligence for some time on the supposed location, it had delayed a recovery operation several times as it sought more specific intel. The report said officials cautioned government ministers that there is no guarantee of success, describing the operation as highly complex.

On Friday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir stopped at the weekly rally held by Gvili’s family in Tel Aviv and reportedly told his parents that there was “room for optimism” for their son’s return.

Gvili, a 24-year-old policeman, was killed defending Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. He rushed to the fight even as he was awaiting surgery for a shoulder injury.

At the gathering on Friday, Gvili’s younger sister Shira said she was doing everything in her power to ensure his return, and that she was “surprised anew every time” at how many people show up to support her family at the rallies.

Gvili’s family has demanded that Israel not make any concessions nor move ahead with the next stages of the Gaza plan before his body is returned.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who met on Saturday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials during their trip to Israel, have been pressing Jerusalem to move forward with the next steps of the plan.

US officials briefing reporters ahead of the meeting said the administration was working closely with Israel to recover Gvili’s body. According to the Ynet news site, Israel has been angry at pressure from Witkoff to reopen the Rafah Crossing this week even without the return of Gvili’s remains.

The head of a transitional Palestinian committee backed by the US to temporarily administer Gaza, Ali Shaath, said on Thursday that the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt — effectively the sole route in or out of Gaza for nearly all of the more than 2 million people who live there — would open this week.

In response, an Israeli official told reporters that the issue would be discussed in a security cabinet meeting at the beginning of this week.