To the very last one.

That was the demand, the pledge, by the families of the hostages abducted by Hamas and other terrorists from Israel on that worst of days, October 7, 2023.

The struggle was not over, national trust in the leadership could not be restored, and Israel could not truly begin to heal, the families and most of the nation recognized, until every single hostage, the living and the slain, was returned to Israel.

And on Monday, January 26, 2026, day 843 of the war, that sacred, essential goal was achieved.

Three and a half months ago, on October 13, 2025, the final 20 living hostages were released by Hamas, a development very few Israelis had believed could happen, because it seemed as though Hamas would be giving up the best leverage it held in its bid to survive, to rise and to resume its core purpose of destroying Israel. And now, the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili — who put on his police uniform and went to war with a broken shoulder on October 7 — has been located by the IDF, identified and, as I write these lines, returned to Israel for burial.

“He went in first, he came out last. He came back home,” said an exultant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, minutes after Gvili’s parents were given the news. “We promised, and I promised, to bring everyone back, and........

© The Times of Israel