While Israel says it has recovered the remains of the last hostage, talks over the ceasefire\u2019s next phase remain uncertain amid mutual violation claims<\/p>\n
On Monday, Israel\u2019s military said it had identified and recovered the remains of Ran Gvili, a police officer and the final Israeli whose body was still being held in Gaza, bringing the most symbolically charged hostage crisis to a close.
\nWhile the release of Gvili\u2019s body marks the end of an important stage in US President Donald Trump\u2019s peace plan, it remains unclear whether the agreement will last \u2013 or be squandered just like previous attempts.
\nRT recaps the hostage saga and Russia\u2019s role in bringing both Israelis and Palestinians home.
\nThe first hostage deal \u2013 and how it collapsed
\nIn the weeks after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, capturing 251 hostages and killing 1,200 people, the Israeli army bombarded Gaza with air and ground attacks, killing more than 14,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
How the West rejected Hamas\u2019 democratic victory and led Gaza to disaster<\/p>\n
The first deal brokered by the US, Qatar, and Egypt in November 2023 produced the first major hostage-prisoner exchange and the first pause in fighting: 105 captives were released in return for around 240 Palestinian prisoners.
\nThe truce did not last more than a week. Both parties accused each other of violating the deal, and the fighting resumed. While Hamas repeatedly warned that intensifying Israeli strikes and any expanded ground operations would endanger captives\u2019 lives \u2013 a claim it has reiterated throughout the war \u2013 Israel continued its attacks.
\nMoscow\u2019s leverage: hostages, relationships, and diplomacy
\nEven after the first truce collapsed, more hostages were still brought home \u2013 and Moscow emerged as one of the key intermediaries able to make it happen. Unlike most Western states, Russia has kept open working channels across the entire spectrum of the conflict, including with Palestinian factions that others refuse to engage.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Is peace in Gaza possible without Russia?<\/p>\n
Russia began its efforts to secure the release of captives as early as October 2023, with Hamas signaling its readiness to cooperate. When Russian captive Alexander Trufanov was freed in February 2025, President Vladimir Putin described the outcome as the result of Russia\u2019s \u201cstable, long-term relations\u201d with the Palestinian people and explicitly thanked Hamas\u2019s political leadership for what he called a humanitarian act.
\nThat role has only grown clearer since. Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk told RT that the family of another Russian hostage (who originally held Ukrainian citizenship) Maxim Harkin sought Russian citizenship for him while he was still in captivity, specifically to give Moscow a formal basis to intervene. The move underscored how Russia was seen not just as a political actor but as a practical channel capable of delivering results when others could not.
\nCeasefire swaps \u2013 and the doubts over Trump\u2019s first moves
\nThe Trump administration\u2019s initial efforts to bring all the remaining hostages back home and build peace in Gaza did not go so well. Though it brought a temporary halt to 15 months of fighting, the January-February 2025 ceasefire did not open the door to a real truce.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s Board of Peace: Bold reset or bypass of Palestine?<\/p>\n
And while it also made possible the release of 44 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel, the exhausted looks of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners shocked the world.
\nThe main problem remained: both sides repeatedly accused each other of violations, with Israel threatening to refrain from freeing any more prisoners.
\nThere was no consensus on what Gaza\u2019s future should look like, and no one could overcome the divisions concerning it.
\nThe final remains (and the fight over what comes next)
\nWhen Trump’s 20-point peace plan was signed in October, it did not feel like relief for many Israelis and Palestinians. Fears about what the future will bring remain to this day, with both sides accusing each other of breaching the ceasefire.
\nWhile the remaining 20 living hostages have been released by Hamas and have returned to Israel, the bodies of the dead were not brought back so easily. Even though Hamas kept reminding Israel that some of the bodies were simply lost in the rubble caused by the Israeli raids, West Jerusalem did not stop bombing. Israel violated the ceasefire agreement at least 1,300 times from October 10, 2025 to January 20, 2026, through the continuation of attacks by air, artillery, and direct fire, the Government Media Office in Gaza reported.<\/p>\n
6 Palestinian prisoners, detained and released after 6 months by Israel, are reunited with their families at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Stringer\/Anadolu via Getty Images <\/p>\n
And although 2,000 political prisoners were brought back home during this phase, more than 10,500 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israel. At least 1,900 of them were captured illegally, according to Israeli human rights groups.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the recovery of Gvili\u2019s remains but said the next part of the plan is not about rebuilding Gaza at all. \u201cThe next phase is disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,\u201d he claimed, contradicting the plan laid out by the US president.
\nHamas has claimed its fighters helped locate Gvili\u2019s body, calling it \u201cconfirmation of our commitment to the ceasefire.\u201d
\nWith the ceasefire terms disputed, governance unresolved, and mass suffering still central to daily life in Gaza, the return of one final hostage\u2019s remains may close a chapter \u2013 but it does not settle the conflict\u2019s next one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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