Israeli police announced on Wednesday the death of a police officer in the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, saying his body was being held by an armed group in the Gaza Strip.
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Ran Gvili, officer of the Yasam unit in the Negev region (south), “is no longer alive (…), he was killed fighting the enemy in the Battle of (Kibbutz) Alumim on October 7th” said the police in a statement statement.
“His body was kidnapped and is being held by a terrorist organization,” the text continues.
Ran Gvili's death brings to 29 the number of deceased hostages whose bodies remain in the Palestinian territories, where Hamas seized power in 2007, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the Islamist group's unprecedented attack on Israel, which has resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people in the country, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
During the attack, the militants also kidnapped around 250 hostages. Israel says there are about 132 remaining in Gaza.
According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the intense bombardment coupled with the ground offensive that Israel launched on October 27 has killed at least 26,751 people in Gaza, mostly women, children and teenagers.