IDF troops under Southern Command completed Operation “Courageous Heart” to recover the remains of Sergeant First Class Ran Gvili, the last deceased hostage from Gaza, releasing initial footage and photos of the operation over the past hour from 3:17 p.m. to 4:17 p.m. UTC on January 26, 2026, according to an official IDF statement. Senior officers, including the Chief of Staff and Southern Command commander MG Yaniv Asor, saluted Gvili's coffin during the farewell. The IDF provided footage of MG Asor in a situational assessment and of troops' activities during the operation to locate and return Gvili's remains, a policeman killed in a battle with Hamas on October 7, 2023, as shared in IDF links and reported by Lazar Berman and guyelster on X. Photos from the 252nd Division's activities in the Gaza Strip accompanied the releases. A Telegram post by Nitzan Shapira stated that the Chief of Staff, Southern Command commander, and fighters from the 252nd Division saluted the late Ran Gvili on his last journey. The operation follows earlier IDF disclosures this afternoon that intelligence assessments pinpointed Gvili's remains at Gaza City's al-Batash cemetery in the Tufah neighborhood, confirmed through recent operations and Hamas information via mediators, as reported in prior updates.
