The Israeli military announced on January 26 that the final body of an Israeli captive held in Gaza has been recovered and returned to Israel, bringing to an end the returns of persons and remains that had been held in the territory since the October 7, 2023 attacks. Israeli authorities completed identification procedures for the deceased, named in Israeli media as La'an Gvili, a member of an Israeli police special forces unit who was killed during the early fighting and whose body was taken into Gaza by Hamas.
A convoy carrying Gvili's remains reached a forensic centre in Tel Aviv on Monday, marking a solemn end to a chapter that has weighed heavily on Israeli public life and politics. Israeli officials said that with this transfer, all people or remains that had been held specifically in the Gaza Strip have now been returned to Israel, a development Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked directly to the contentious question of opening Gaza’s Rafah crossing.
The recovery follows the first-phase Gaza ceasefire agreement that came into effect in October 2025, under which Hamas previously handed over 20 surviving hostages and 27 bodies. Israeli officials had noted that the search for the last body progressed slowly, and Netanyahu had insisted that the Rafah crossing on the Gaza–Egypt border would remain closed until the last remains were returned.
Hamas issued its own statement acknowledging the efforts made to locate the final body while reiterating conditions it says Israel must meet under the ceasefire. Hamas demanded a comprehensive implementation of the agreement — in particular, unrestricted two-way opening of the Rafah crossing, the lifting of material blockades to allow sufficient goods into Gaza, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and facilitation for a Palestinian technocratic committee to govern Gaza’s affairs.
The announcement has immediate humanitarian and political implications. For families of the dead and missing, the return may provide some closure; for a public fatigued by prolonged conflict, the development removes one of the most visceral reminders of October 2023. Yet it also hardens bargaining lines: Israel’s insistence on holding Rafah closed until the return was complete has already constrained the flow of aid and reconstruction materials into Gaza, and Hamas’s demands make reopening the crossing conditional on broader changes that Israel has been reluctant to concede.
Beyond the immediate headlines, the episode underscores how hostage and remains exchanges remain central levers in the wider struggle over Gaza’s future. International mediators — notably Egypt, Qatar and the United States — will find themselves pushed to convert this tactical moment into durable rules for movement, governance and aid. Without agreement on those fundamentals, the return of remains is likely to be a temporary respite rather than a turning point toward political resolution.