The Israeli Army announced on Monday (26) the recovery of the remains of Ran Gvili, identified as the last Israeli held in the Gaza Strip. According to military authorities, the conclusion of the identification process allows advancing to the next phase of the ceasefire agreement signed in October, which provides for gradual measures to end the war between Israel and Palestine. The information was released preliminarily by Israeli forces at the end of a search and forensic operation, according to Al Jazeera.
According to Israeli Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, the confirmation occurred after examinations conducted by the National Center for Forensic Medicine, in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate. “After the conclusion of the identification process by the National Center for Forensic Medicine, in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, representatives [do Exército] informed the family of the deceased Ran Gvili that his body has been returned for burial,” Adraee declared, when officially communicating to the family about the return of the body.
In the same statement, the spokesperson stated that the recovery ends the chapter of Israeli hostages in Gaza. “Thus, all hostages held in the Gaza Strip have been repatriated,” Adraee said, reinforcing that there are no more Israelis in custody in the Palestinian territory, according to Tel Aviv’s official version.
The announcement comes after the Hamas military arm informed that it had passed on “all the details” to the truce mediators about the possible location of the last captive’s body. The return was provided for in the terms of the U.S.-mediated ceasefire and was considered an essential condition for implementing subsequent stages of the agreement.
Before the confirmation, the Israeli government had conditioned the reopening of the Rafah crossing, which links Gaza to Egypt, to the location of the last captive. Even with the recovery of the remains, Israel maintains the position that the border post will be reopened in a restricted manner, “on a limited basis,” exclusively for the movement of people, without authorization for the regular flow of goods.
Source: brasil247.com