Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who served as the military’s point man on hostage negotiations since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, said that the terror group is facing “objective” difficulties locating the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last deceased hostage in Gaza.

“Hamas has an objective difficulty” in finding the body, Alon told the Ynet news site in a wide-ranging interview, his first since he ended his two-year role, in which he also led the IDF’s intelligence gathering effort on captives and missing persons. “It’s related to the chaos they faced immediately after October 7.”

“Nevertheless, we believe that it is possible to bring him back. There is a connection between the pressure applied on Hamas and the results, so we can’t give up,” Alon said.

Arabic media reported on Monday that Hamas and the Red Cross failed to find the remains of  Gvili during recent searches in the eastern part of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

When Hamas attacked, Gvili, a police master sergeant, was recovering at home from a broken collarbone. He quickly put on his uniform and joined the fight against the terrorists around Kibbutz Alumim near Gaza.

Gvili, who was 24 at the time, was badly wounded and Israeli authorities said he did not survive for long after being taken to Gaza.

Alon told Ynet that the military had a “reasonable picture” of where hostages were located three weeks after the massacre. However, that information became “irrelevant” after a while,........

© The Times of Israel