Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog gathered with the family of Ran Gvili, the final deceased Israeli hostage whose remains have yet to be returned from Gaza, on Sunday night for two separate Hanukkah candle lighting events to mark the first night of the eight-day festival.

Herzog and his wife, Michal, were also joined by freed hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, Matan Angrest, Shlomi Ziv, Noralin Babadilla, Margalit Mozes, Clara Merman, Moran Stella Yanai, and Gabriella and Mia Lemberg.

The president, in his speech, focused on the two-year-long campaign by the families of the hostages to bring their loved ones home following their kidnapping during the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023. He told those gathered that he had experienced the “immense privilege” of being the address that many of them turned to for “conversations, to cry, and for hope in moments of brokenness and in moments of pride.”

“Ran is a police officer who fell heroically in battle on October 7. 800 days later, Ran is now the last hostage still being held by murderous terrorists in Gaza,” Herzog said. “We renew our call for Ran to be released immediately and returned home to his dear family for dignified burial!”

The first candle of Hanukkah, he said, was to be a “candle of remembrance, for all the deceased hostages who will remain engraved........

© The Times of Israel