Netanyahu meets family of last Israeli hostage as demonstrators demand return

UPDATED: Nov 30, 2025 02:50 IST

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the family of the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza, his office said Saturday, as demonstrators demanded the return of the final two bodies.

Ran Gvili, 24, an officer in Israel's Yasam elite police unit, fell in battle on October 7, 2023 during the unprecedented attack led by Hamas on southern Israel. His body was taken to Gaza.

On Friday, Netanyahu "informed his parents, Talik and Itzik, about the efforts Israel is making for his return and his determination to bring him for a proper Jewish burial", his office said.

Netanyahu also spoke with Thailand's ambassador to Israel, and updated him on the efforts to return the only other slain hostage still held in Gaza, Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Israel's government and security forces "are making extensive efforts for his return", the statement said.

Rinthalak, 43, worked in plantations at the Beeri kibbutz near the Gaza Strip and was one of several Thai labourers killed in the October 7 attack and whose bodies were taken to Gaza. His death was confirmed by Israel in May 2024.

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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza, held a rally in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square on Saturday the latest in a series of weekly gatherings designed to put pressure on Netanyahu's government to ensure all the hostages are returned.

Attendees chanted "You are not alone, we stand with you." They held up placards featuring the faces of Gvili and Rinthalak, and signs reading "Day 785; we leave no one behind".

"It doesn't matter that only two are left: two is like 70. Each one is equally important," said Michal Yaniv, 72.

"For the families it's very important that we keep coming, so they can feel that we're with them. All the time. We won't stop coming because some returned," she told AFP.

Yaniv added: "When the hostages return, I will start protesting against the government that brought upon us October 7 and they won't acknowledge it. Netanyahu is still not acknowledging that he is responsible."

Under the terms of a US-sponsored ceasefire agreement that entered into force between Israel and Hamas on October 10, the Islamist group committed to returning all the 48 hostages it held captive, of whom 20 were alive.

It has so far returned 46, including the body of a fallen soldier who was abducted more than a decade ago.

At the rally, product manager Noya Ziv, 53, said: "I believe that the fact that we've been coming here consistently throughout these two years contributed a lot to the release of the hostages.

"There is hope that it will end soon... We're in the final stretch, and it will come to an end. It has to come," she told AFP.

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