Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24: Set out to join fight despite broken shoulder
Ran was declared dead by the IDF in January 2024, but his family holds out hope that he is still alive in Gaza
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Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24, from Meitar, was last heard from on October 7, 2023, when he set out to join the fight against Hamas in southern Israel.
Ran, a member of the Yasam police counter-terror unit, was on medical leave at the time, awaiting surgery on his broken shoulder following a motorcycle accident while off-roading. Nevertheless, when he heard of the attack, he put on his uniform and headed toward the front line.
At 10:50 a.m. that morning, he texted his friends and told them that he had been shot in the leg. That was the last anyone heard from him.
His father told the Ynet news site that Ran “just put on a uniform and said to me ‘Dad, I’m going.’ I said to him, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’, and he answered, ‘What do you think? Do you think that my friends will fight alone? I’m going to help them.’ He didn’t ask me. Rani can’t be stopped.”
On the way, he helped rescue fleeing partygoers from the Nova music festival before arriving at Kibbutz Alumim.
For months, his family held out hope that he was alive and likely held hostage in Gaza.
But on January 31, 2024, the IDF announced that Ran had been killed on October 7 while battling Hamas in Kibbutz Alumim, and his body taken to Gaza.
His family, however, refused to accept the news without the return of his body, which remains held in Gaza.
His mother, Tali, told Haaretz in November 2024 that the family had received photos from October 7 showing him arriving unconscious at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and later seen in Zeitoun on the back of a motorcycle, “but they aren’t conclusive… in this situation, hoping for a miracle feels reasonable.”
His family said he was being held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not Hamas.
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.”
Serving his country was always Ran’s goal, and he joined the Golani Brigade as part of his mandatory military service, following a year in a pre-military academy. Ran 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.
Ran is survived by his parents, Tali and Itzik and his siblings Shira and Omri.
The Times of Israel Community.