"The remains of the Israeli police sergeant Ran Gvili, who was killed fighting Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, have been returned to Israel. Militants took Gvili's body to Gaza to use as a bargaining chip. He was the last of 251 people captured that day still held in the territory. With this, all hostages have been returned from the Gaza Strip to the State of Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement."
"The handover of the body marks the completion of a key initial demand of Donald Trump's ceasefire plan for Gaza. It should smooth the way for progress in its second stage, which the US announced earlier this month was already under way. Israel said the vital Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would reopen for traffic when Gvili's body had been returned. It has been closed since Israeli troops seized control of it in May 2024."
"The return of Gvili's remains marks the end of a long public campaign to bring back the living and the dead, including some who had been captured before 2023. After many difficult years, for the first time since 2014, there are no Israeli citizens held hostage in Gaza. An entire nation prayed and waited for this moment, the country's president, Isaac Herzog, said in a statement."
The remains of Israeli police sergeant Ran Gvili, killed on 7 October 2023, have been returned after militants took his body to Gaza as a bargaining chip. His return was the last of 251 people captured that day and completed the return of all hostages. The handover met an initial demand of a US ceasefire plan and should allow progress to its next stage. Israel will reopen the Rafah crossing to pedestrians under its control, but shortages of food, shelter, medicine and other aid will continue. Campaigners demand an independent inquiry into 7 October and the war. Of 166 who returned alive, most were freed in ceasefire deals and only eight were released by Israeli military operations.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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