Final Gaza hostage returns as Trump plan moves to next phase

The Israeli military has recovered the body of Sgt. Ran Gvili, a police officer killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack and subsequently taken to the Gaza Strip.

Gvili was the last of the 251 people seized during the initial assault to remain in the territory, according to the Israeli military. "With this, all hostages have been brought back from the Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.

The return of Gvili’s body completes a vital requirement of the first phase of a ceasefire plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The development was expected to clear a path for the plan's second phase.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the next step will prioritize "disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip" rather than the reconstruction envisioned by the U.S. proposal. Under this plan, Israel will maintain full control of the Rafah crossing, reopening it for pedestrians but continuing to block aid shipments.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed nearly 500 Palestinians. Severe shortages of food and shelter persist throughout the region.

The recovery of the final hostage’s remains marks a watershed moment in the Gaza conflict, serving less as a conclusion and more as a pivot toward a volatile new phase. This milestone has laid bare a fundamental strategic rift between the incoming Trump administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government regarding the enclave’s post-war trajectory.

At the heart of the friction is a divergence in governance models. Jared Kushner, acting as a key architect for Donald Trump’s regional policy, has floated an ambitious framework for a unified Gaza under Palestinian administration. Conversely, Netanyahu has deprioritized reconstruction in favor of a singular focus on the total demilitarization of Hamas. This ideological clash suggests that any U.S.-led peace initiative will encounter stiff resistance from within Israel’s own right-wing governing coalition.

The viability of the Trump plan now hinges on Washington’s capacity to enforce its most granular and difficult provisions—specifically the oversight of Hamas’s disarmament. With international forces historically reluctant to accept a mandate for direct kinetic confrontation, any perceived vacillation from the U.S. could see the entire diplomatic framework collapse.

Domestically, the resolution of the hostage crisis has stripped Netanyahu of his primary political shield. Public scrutiny is now pivoting toward accountability, with mounting pressure for an independent commission of inquiry into the systemic security failures of October 7 and the subsequent conduct of the war. Without the moral and political urgency of the hostage issue to consolidate national sentiment, Netanyahu finds himself increasingly exposed to domestic dissent and a renewed push for leadership transition.