It is a bittersweet day — and a watershed moment — for Israel. The remains of Ran Gvili, the final Israeli hostage in Gaza, finally returned home for burial yesterday. Today marks the first day since 2014 that there is no Israeli hostage left in Gaza.
“The first one to go in, the last one to return,” Gvili’s mother, Talik Gvili, wrote of her son, a Master Sergeant in the Israeli police who, despite having just recovered from a shoulder injury, rushed into battle the morning of October 7, 2023, to help protect his fellow countrymen.
It’s not the ending that the Gvili family or any Israeli hoped for, but it still marks the end of a harrowing chapter. All Israeli hostages taken during the deadly October 7 attack have been returned, 87 deceased, 168 alive. (The body of Hadar Goldin, captured during the 2014 Gaza War, was returned to Israel as part of the latest ceasefire deal in November 2025, as were Avera Mangistu and Hisham .)
Across Israel and around the world, Jewish people finally removed symbols of the hostage ordeal that they had been carrying for 843 days. Tapes marking the number of days since October 7, yellow ribbon pins, dog tags, jewelry, fabric bracelets, and other handmade trinkets — all worn for over two years to draw attention to the fight for the hostages. That fight is finally over.
Many of the hostages who returned home to a long journey of healing and fought for their fellow hostages until the last one returned home, also finally removed their hostage symbols and shared what this moment means for them and their country.
The clock at Hostage Square stops
Former hostage Bar Kupershtein took a video tonight in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, which will now go back to being a regular square. He filmed as a timer showing how long it had been since October 7, was stopped, and the screen finally (finally!) turned dark.
Maya and Itay Regev, Eli Sharabi, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert take off their hostage pins
Siblings Maya and Itay Regev and their friend Omer Shem Tov uttered the Shehechiyanu (a Jewish prayer of gratitude for this moment) as they removed their hostage pins. Omer Wenkert’s girlfriend, Adi Taub, removed his hostage pin, while Eli Sharabi, author of the bestseller “Hostage,” somberly filmed himself removing the pin.
Emily Damari, Gali and Ziv Berman get together for their pin removals
Best friends Emily Damari and twins Gali and Ziv Berman, taken on October 7 from an apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, got together to remove their pins.
Segev Kalfon: ‘He was in my prayers every morning’
Former hostage Segev Kalfon shared his feelings in a video on social media.
“Yesterday, Ran Gvili returned home, not with a smile, not with a future, not with a hug, just with silence,” he shared. “For so long, we’ve waited for this moment, we counted days, nights, breaths. Every day in my prayers, in my teffilin, he was there. And he’s back, not like we wanted. Back to be buried in the ground that knows his name, like he deserves to, and my heart hurts. My heart is with his family.”
“I invited everyone to come to Hostage Square for the screen to be turned off,” he continued, “Now we can look forward and start healing, as a people, as a country, and to build a new life… Thank you Rani for who you were for me, for us, you are a hero of Israel, I love you.”
Elkana Bohbot: ‘The fight is over’
“For me, this is a moment of an ending. Since I came back from captivity, I felt like I wasn’t really here. As long as Ran was there, something stayed open,” Elkana Bohbot wrote on social media. “Today… the fight is over. The line ‘until the last hostage’ is finally true. And we can, finally, let our hearts be.”
Ariel and David Cunio: ‘Sorry Rani’
Siblings Ariel and David Cunio, who spent 738 days as hostages in Gaza, shared a message on social media addressed to Ran: “We waited so long for this moment, and fought so hard for it to come. Sorry, Rani, that it took so long to bring you home. You deserved a different ending. Our hearts are with your family in their deep sorrow.”
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin: ‘It’s a complicated day’
The family of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin shared their own bittersweet message, sending all their thoughts to the Gvili family. “It’s a complicated day, but we are thinking of you,” Jon shared.
“We are looking forward to tomorrow morning, for the first time in 844 days, not having to put masking tape over our hearts,” Rachel shared.
“In solidarity with all of the families who have had to bury loved ones since October 7th, 2023, we take off our masking tape and pray for comfort…for us all,” the family wrote on social media.
May Ran Gvili’s memory be for a blessing.
