‘Our pride is greater than our sorrow’: Ran Gvili’s family remember him as ‘true hero of Israel’

Talik and Itzik Gvili, along with two of their children, speak to the press following the return of their son’s body from Gaza.

Surrounded by family, Talik says she is “proud” to have finally reached this moment after more than two years of campaigning for the return of her police officer son, who was killed in battle on October 7, 2023, and his body taken to Gaza.

In particular, she says, the family is proud “because we know it is IDF soldiers who retrieved Rani from that damned place.”

“We are so proud of you, IDF soldiers, proud of the police, proud of the government, proud of everyone who gave us so much strength, proud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, proud of US President Donald Trump,” she says, also mentioning by name US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and the government’s hostage pointman Gal Hirsch.

“Our pride is much, much stronger than our pain,” she says. “The people of Israel lives and is strong.”

“Rani came home as a true hero of Israel, and we are the proudest in the world,” she says.”

Itzik, who traveled to the Nahal Oz military base for a brief ceremony over his son’s coffin earlier this evening, says there was “strength” in the crowd of soldiers, police officers, and Ran’s friends, who gathered to escort him to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

“If you’d have asked Rani how he wanted to go, it would have been like this,” his father says. “This is his way.”

“He saved us, saved the people of Israel, saved Kibbutz Alumim, he saved everyone,” Itzik adds. “Rani always loved bringing people together, and he’s united the country. I don’t know how, but he did.”

Omri, Ran’s brother, echoes his mother’s words, saying: “Our pride today is much greater than our sorrow.”

“I had the prize of being the brother of an Israeli hero, who did the unbelievable,” he says.

Finally, Ran’s sister, Shira, thanks Trump, Witkoff, and Kushner in English.

“We are so grateful,” she says, adding that she believed Trump when he looked the family in the eye and promised to bring Ran back home.

Switching to Hebrew, she thanks the Israeli public that “never gave up” and the Tikvah Forum and all its volunteers. She thanks the families of the other hostages. “Even when your loved ones came home, you were still with us… You were our anchor in this insane situation…. We are a strong people. The people of Israel lives.”