Idan Amedi, the Fauda star who was wounded fighting Hamas in Gaza, was among the soldiers who participated in the operation to recover the body of Ran Gvili, Israel’s final hostage, it has emerged.
The IDF has cleared his involvement for publication after Ran’s remains were returned to Israel on Monday night.
Ran, 24, 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.
His body was recovered from a cemetery in Gaza City, having been identified by his fingerprint after search teams examined over 250 corpses.
Amedi, 37, born to a Kurdish Jewish family in Jerusalem, rose to prominence as Sagi Tzur in the hit Netflix show, which follows a unit of Mista‘arvim – IDF soldiers who operate undercover in Arab communities.
However, prior to his acting career, he served in the IDF’s combat engineering corps, and he subsequently re-enlisted when the Gaza War broke out.
He fought Hamas in the Strip until January 2024, when he was seriously wounded when his unit was caught in an explosion.
Left unconscious for several days, he suffered burns and shrapnel wounds to his eye sockets, jaw and neck.
He was released from hospital the following month and has been recuperating ever since, as well as continuing work as an actor and singer, but returned to the military to aid his corps in the search for Ran.
The news of his involvement comes after the IDF released moving images of Ran’s family meeting his coffin at the army’s Nahal Base.
Standing over the casket surrounded by soldiers, Itzik Gvili, Ran’s father, 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.
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