IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir (C) and Southern Command Chief Major General Yaniv Asor (CR) salute the coffin of Ran Gvili (IDF)[Missing Credit]
Ran, a police officer who, despite being on leave for a shoulder injury, rushed out to fight terrorists on October 7, was killed during the Hamas massacres.
Standing over the coffin, surrounded by soldiers, Itzik addressed his son directly, joking: “You dummy, you had every chance to stay at home.
"But you said, ‘Dad’. What did you tell me? ‘I won’t leave my friends to fight alone.
"You should see the respect that you’re getting here, everyone who brought you. The whole police force is with you, the whole army is with you, the whole nation is with you.”
"I’m proud of you, my son,” he concluded, before leaning down and kissing the coffin.
Speaking outside the family’s home on Monday evening, Itzik added: “If you’d have asked Rani how he wanted to go, it would have been like this. This is his way.
"He saved us, saved the people of Israel, saved Kibbutz Alumim, he saved everyone. Rani always loved bringing people together, and [now] he’s united the country. I don’t know how, but he did.”
Likewise, Talik said: “I want to thank everyone who stood by us for the last two years.
"We’re very proud to get to this place, especially because we know that those who took Rani out of that cursed place were IDF soldiers.
She then thanked Prime Minister Netanyahu, US President Trump, US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner by name, as well as the Israel Police, saying: “Our pride is much, much stronger than our pain. The people of Israel lives and is strong.”
Chief of Police Daniel Levy (CL) and Israeli police officers pay their respects as a convoy carrying the body of a slain hostage Ran Gvili arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv on January 26, 2026 (Flash90)Flash90
Meanwhile, Omri, Ran’s brother, went on: “Our pride today is much greater than our sorrow.
"I had the prize of being the brother of an Israeli hero, who did the unbelievable.”
And his sister, Shira, added: “I just feel a crazy sense of freedom. I feel relief. I’m sad, very sad, that it ended this way. But it needed to end sometime, and I’m so happy he’s come back home. Rani is on the way. Rani is coming.”
Ran’s body has now been transferred to Tel Aviv’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine and he will be given a proper Jewish burial on Wednesday.
Paying tribute to his fallen sergeant, Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy said: “We salute you, we respect you, and we apologise… that we could not save you and bring you back alive.
"May your memory be for a blessing.”
