The Israeli Hebrew press carried the news concerning the search for Ran Gvili in detail. In the non-Hebrew press, it could be challenging to get a sense of the scope of the operation—the massive intelligence efforts, a captured terrorist who gave critical information, the hundreds of soldiers, the gigantic digging equipment and the dozens of dentists who were brought in during the final days to go through more than 250 bodies in a mass Palestinian grave before Gvili was located and his identity confirmed.
“There are no hostages in Gaza” was what everyone said when it was announced that he’d been located. No living hostages. No hostages who’d been taken from Israel alive and then murdered in cold blood. No bodies of those who’d been killed in Israel and dragged into Gaza. And no remains of soldiers like Hadar Goldin, z’l, whose family waited more than a decade to be able to bury their son and brother.
There’s nothing to say, at least at this moment, that captures the enormity of the relief, relief that is coupled to a deep and abiding sadness and ache.
So today, instead of words, a few images that have had Israel in their grips these past few days.
In the video at the top,
soldiers singing Hatikvah after Ran Gvili had been found, with the IDF Chief of Staff on the right saluting him.
Photos of the search released by the IDF
A graphic stunning for its beauty and creativity
It reads, obviously, 26.1.26 (January 26 2026), with the yellow hostage ribbon having morphed, at least in part, into a dove.
The white lettering at the bottom says
The first to go out [to defend the state], the last to return Rav Gvili is home.
And finally, one last video of the soldiers who searched for him
In the background, you can see the blue canopies/tents that were used for identifying bodies that were found, the gigantic excavators used in the search, and, of course, some of the ruins of Gaza.
The words of the song, which virtually every Israeli knows, are taken from Maimonides. They are the 12th of his 13 Principle of Faith, and read:
I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah I believe And even though he may tarry, Still, I will wait for him, I will wait for him every day, that he should come.
During the weeks of January 25th and February 1st, I will be out of the country, and for most of that time, in an area with literally zero connectivity. We will, of course, continue to provide our podcasts for paid subscribers and previews of those podcasts for free subscribers, but there will be fewer other posts.
In the event that there is a dramatic development in Israel (Iran, Gaza or anything else) and we do not post about it, it’s because we may well not even know about it, and even if news does each us, we will definitely not have the connectivity needed to post.
We’ll return to a normal pace and schedule the week of February 8th.
With prayers for quiet and good news ….
