On 25 October 2023, speaking as Israel prepared to expand its ground campaign in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly and unambiguously set out Israel’s two central war aims: the destruction of Hamas and the return of all the hostages the Palestinians had taken into Gaza. It was the first time he set out the two goals together in such a clear, paired manner, and that phrasing would go on to define the government’s strategic language for the duration of the war.

Netanyahu presented the goals not as alternatives or competing priorities, but as parallel and non-negotiable commitments. Israel would prosecute a full-scale military campaign to eliminate Hamas while binding itself to the recovery of every single captive. The formulation hardened into a slogan and a promise, repeated relentlessly in speeches, briefings and official communications.

Since then, Netanyahu has been attacked from every direction for failing to deliver on either pledge. Critics accused him of sacrificing the hostages for military ambition, then of sacrificing military momentum for diplomacy, then of achieving neither. But even his opponents must now admit that he has delivered on one of those promises.

The return of the body of Staff Sergeant Ran Gvili, recovered in a complex operation deep inside Gaza, marked the end of Israel’s hostage chapter in this war. In the Knesset, Netanyahu opened with the traditional Jewish blessing of thanksgiving. The moment carried a weight that went beyond politics or military accounting. For months, the country had lived with a small yellow ribbon pinned to jackets, bags, uniforms, a quiet, stubborn signal that the promise still stood. With the mission completed, Netanyahu showed the time had come to remove it.

The operation itself was grim and exacting. Acting on accumulated intelligence, Israeli forces entered a cemetery in the Shuja’iyya–Daraj Tuffah area, operating along the Yellow Line in Gaza. Specialised search teams worked alongside engineers, dental experts, and rabbinical figures. Body after body was exhumed and examined. Ran Gvili was identified through dental records. Having completed a task few armies would even........

© The Spectator