On October 7, 2023, more than 250 people were abducted to Gaza. Today, after more than two years of suffering, we are down to the last two. One of them is my son Ran.
Every morning I wake up counting. More than 790 days since they took him. More than 790 nights of longing burning through my heart, of fighting not to collapse, of clinging to hope and immense pride in my hero son.
My Ran never hesitated when evil came knocking. That terrible morning he had a broken shoulder after a motorcycle accident the week before. He would rest, waiting for surgery. But when the alarm went off, he grabbed his police uniform and walked straight into danger. That’s who my son was. He served in the police counter-terrorism unit and could not sit still knowing that people needed help.
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Ran Gvili stands in his police uniform. He was hailed as a hero for his actions in fighting terrorists and saving many during the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in southern Israel. (Gvili family)
He jumped into a vehicle with a friend and together they ran toward the chaos. They pulled dozens of people out of the Nova music festival and rescued them while trying to reach Ran’s fellow officers who were trapped and fighting for their lives in Kibbutz Alumim. He fought bravely together with his team and together they stopped a massacre. He was wounded in the leg, wounded in the arm, but he kept going and killed more than a dozen terrorists. He fought until he had nothing left, protecting families hiding in their homes. From that day on, the people of the kibbutz began to call him the Shield of Alumim.
Two weeks later we were told that he had been kidnapped to Gaza. Then on January 24, 2024, we learned that he had been murdered and his body was taken there, where it remains to this day. We continue to pray for a miracle, that a mistake was made, that Ran is somehow still alive. Intelligence is not perfect. Sometimes I dream of him, wounded but alive. He tells me, “I’ll be back and I’ll be a hero.” And I tell him he’s already a hero. I know the odds are not in our favor, but if I don’t hold on to this hope, I would completely fall apart.
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People hold photos of dead hostages Sudthisak Rinthalak and Ran Gvili, whose bodies have not yet been returned, as Israelis attend a rally calling for the immediate return of the remains of all hostages held in Gaza, more than two years after the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 29, 2025. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
When this nightmare started, there were 255 hostages. Their families became one big family. We held each other through every excruciating moment. Every time someone came back, there was the feeling that a part of us was coming back. And now we are down to the last two in the darkness of Gaza. I’m terrified that after bringing so many home, my Ran will be left behind. There’s a crushing feeling I can’t shake: When is it our turn?
It has been almost two months since the answer to our prayers. President Donald Trump and his administration, who have supported us for so long, pulled off nothing short of a miracle in reaching an agreement that brought almost all of them home. The living were reunited with their families after unimaginable suffering. The deceased were returned for the dignified burial they deserved, finally bringing closure to the families who had waited in agony. We watched as family after family embraced their sons, as parents held their children again, as a nation began to heal.
A few days ago we met with the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. He was warm and compassionate in a way that deeply touched our hearts. We really felt that he cared about Ran, about Sudthisak Rinthalak, the other hostage still held in Gaza, and about all our families. He has promised us that the American government will be with us until the end, that they will not abandon us, not until the last hostage comes home. And we believe him wholeheartedly. Even now that there are only two left, we know they will continue to fight for us.
Ran’s mother, Talik Gvili, waited almost 800 days for her son to return home. His body is still being held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists, preventing the family from burying him. (Uriel Even Sapir/The Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Yet Ran and Sudthisak are still there, waiting in the darkness. Every time there are rumors of raids in Gaza, I experience cautious optimism mixed with enormous fear. I have never experienced anxiety, palpitations and panic before. With every phone call, with every car that stops by the house, my heart beats faster.
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Hamas says they are looking for the last two hostages, but we see no progress. They play games, hold us back and mock us while two families suffer. This must stop now. Hamas knows exactly where they are. They need to be pressured to deliver on their goal of this deal. How can we move on to the next phase of the deal while Ran and Sudthisak remain in captivity? How can our families, how can we as a nation recover while they remain there?
I appeal to everyone who helped bring all 253 hostages home, to President Trump’s administration that has so steadfastly stood behind us, to the mediators, to people of conscience around the world: do not forget them. Don’t forget Ran and Sudthisak. Don’t give up now that we’re so close.
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I promise you, my Ran, that your story will be heard around the world. Everyone will know what you did, how you fought and never gave up.
We will take you home.
