Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24: Motorcycle-loving cop ‘united the country’

Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24, a police officer in the Yasam counter-terror unit, from Meitar, was killed on October 7, 2023, while battling the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel.

His body was taken captive to Gaza, and remained there for more than 800 days until it was located by the IDF and returned to Israel for burial.

Ran became the very last Israeli captive being held by terror groups in Gaza, and a symbol of the movement’s dedication to not ending its struggle until every single hostage was returned. On January 26, 2026, 843 days after he was killed and his body taken, Ran’s remains were located by the IDF in a cemetery in northern Gaza and brought back to Israel.

The morning of the Hamas attack, Ran was at home on leave from the police since he was awaiting surgery on his shoulder after being injured while out biking. Nevertheless, upon hearing of the invasion, Ran set out for the front line, first heading to the Beersheba police station and then toward Kibbutz Alumim.

According to his family, Ran arrived first at the Sa’ad Junction, where he helped rescue a group of fleeing partygoers from the Nova festival. Then he continued with his comrades to Alumim, where he battled Hamas gunmen and was shot in his arm and leg. He was taken by terrorists into Gaza, and photos showed him arriving at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as well as in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood on the back of a motorcycle.

On January 30, 2024, the IDF told the Gvili family that intelligence showed that Ran had been killed on October 7 and his body abducted to Gaza. Nevertheless, the family refused to give up hope that he would return alive, believing he had possibly only been wounded but survived, and continued to refer to him in the present tense until the day his body was identified.

Almost two years later, on January 28, 2026, Ran was laid to rest in his hometown of Meitar, two days after his body was brought back to Israel. He is survived by his parents, Tali and Itzik, and his siblings, Shira and Omri.

Ran was born and raised in Meitar, the middle child in his family. After attending local schools, Ran attended a pre-military academy before enlisting in the IDF and joining the Golani Brigade. He was seriously wounded during training and was told that he wouldn’t be able to return as a combat soldier, but fought his way back and completed his service.

After being released from the army, Ran joined the Israel Police in 2021, serving in the Yasam counter-terror unit, in a motorcycle unit.

According to the Hostages Forum, “Ran had a passion for motorcycles, enjoyed gatherings with friends, cherished moments with his sister and brother, and relished playing the guitar while sipping lemon arak.”

His family said it made a lot of sense that Ran was the first to head to the fighting, and the very last to return home.

“You dummy, you had every chance to stay at home,” his father, Itzik, said after receiving Ran’s coffin. “But you said, ‘Dad.’ What did you tell me? ‘I won’t leave my friends to fight alone.’”

“You should see the respect that you’re getting here, everyone who brought you. The whole police force is with you, the whole army is with you, the whole nation is with you,” Itzik said. “If you’d have asked Rani how he wanted to go, it would have been like this. This is his way.”

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

At his funeral, Ran’s mother, Talik, told the gathered crowd: “I am Talik Gvili, a proud mother of Ran, a Yasam police officer — the first to head out and the last to return.”

“I just want to tell you, my beloved child, that the hope — that maybe you would return to us on two legs, or even on one — was what gave us the strength to get through this long period without you,” she said. “Throughout this entire time, we spoke about you endlessly. It felt as though you became everyone’s child.”

“My beloved Rani, I promise you that largely because of you, we — the people of Israel — remembered that despite the divisions, we are one great and strong people.”

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