The last Israeli captive recovered from Gaza has been buried at a funeral attended by hundreds of mourners which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ended a "painful" chapter in Israel's history.
Ran Gvili, an off-duty police officer, was killed fighting Hamas militants who attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
His remains were taken back to the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, Israeli officials say.
Of the about 250 people abducted that day, Gvili was the last to be released either dead or alive, and he was buried in his hometown of Meitar in southern Israel on Wednesday, local time.
His casket was driven to the funeral in a procession beginning in Camp Shura, a facility where Israel identified victims of the October 2023 attack. Police and civilians carrying Israeli flags lined parts of the route.
"The burial of Ran Gvili brings an end to the painful reality of the existence of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, all of them, living and fallen," Netanyahu said in a eulogy at the funeral.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also delivered a eulogy at the funeral. He said the entire nation mourned Gvili, who was 24 when he died, and "the shattered fragments of our hearts can slowly begin to gather toward healing and repair".
Gvili's aunt Harel Plachinsky saw the return of her nephew's remains and burial as a moment of closure.
"This is some kind of ending the war ... and I think that the seventh of October is ending today," she said.
Gvili was one of about 1200 people killed in the attack, which set off the war in Gaza. Palestinian health authorities say Israel has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians during the conflict.
Many of the hostages were released during two short ceasefires, but dozens died in captivity.
Under the terms of an October deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas and other groups agreed to return the remaining hostages, alive or dead, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The return of the last hostage and his burial marks a moment of national healing for Israelis. The Hamas attack, the bloodiest killing of Jews since the Holocaust, was widely seen as the most traumatic event in the nation's history.
It also completes a core aspect of the initial phase of Trump's plan to end the war. The second stage, which Washington announced had started earlier in January, includes the reopening of Gaza's Rafah border with Egypt.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will reopen the border crossing in both directions, allowing Palestinians to enter and leave the territory after nearly two years of closure.
Netanyahu did not say when the Rafah crossing would open, but did say it would be limited to foot traffic and not be used for cargo, adding Israel won’t “prevent anyone from leaving".
He said his focus was now on disarming Hamas and destroying its remaining tunnels, and there would be no reconstruction in Gaza without demilitarisation.
“As I agreed with President Trump, there are only two possibilities: either it will be done the easy way or it will be done the hard way,” he said at a news conference. “In any case, it will happen.“
Netanyahu also reiterated his stance that Turkish and Qatari soldiers will not be allowed to participate in an international security force in Gaza and his opposition to a Palestinian state.
He vowed that Israel would retain permanent security control from the Jordan border to the Mediterranean Sea.
With AP
