The Israel Police cleared for publication on Wednesday morning that Sergeant Major Ran Gvili, an officer with the Yasam unit, fell in battle in Kibbutz Alumim, located near the Gaza border, on October 7.
His body is being held in Gaza.
"A committee of experts that met on January 30, 2024, with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Health, the intelligence agencies, the Israel Police, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Chief Rabbi of Israel, determined based on the findings presented to it that the late Ran Gvili is no longer alive,” the statement said.
“Ran was murdered on October 7, 2023, and his body was kidnapped and held by a terrorist organization," it added.
Gvili, 24, from the town of Meitar northeast of Be’er Sheva, was at the hospital waiting for surgery on the morning of Simchat Torah. When he heard about the Hamas attack, he put on his uniform and joined the fighting.
At 10:50 a.m. that morning, Gvili wrote to his friends that he had been shot twice in the leg in the vicinity of Kibbutz Alumim.