The IDF unit that found Ran Gvili
The mission YASAR is tasked with is deeply confronting, often traumatic, and ultimately profoundly meaningful.
Ran Gvili, the last hostage in Gaza, was found and identified by a little known all-volunteer IDF unit named YASAR, whose job it is to search, identify and return the dead. YASAR – the Southern Command Scanning Unit – are the team tasked with entering enemy territory or scenes of horrific violence, to locate and identify fallen soldiers. They have quietly gone about their mission since the October 7 massacres, both in Israel and in Gaza.
The mission that YASAR is tasked with is deeply confronting, often traumatic, and ultimately profoundly meaningful, as they bring closure and dignity to the fallen and their loved ones.
Yosef, a member of the YASAR unit, shared with me his own harrowing experiences. Their mission demands not only physical courage, but immense emotional strength. The weight of what he sees never leaves him, yet his commitment to bringing closure to grieving families pushes him forward.
Softly spoken, Yosef described the unimaginable task his unit faced on October 8, when they were sent to Kissufim military base to search for human remains.
“My unit’s job was to check the women’s quarters to make sure there were no human remains. It was terrible. There was blood everywhere. There were clear signs of rape and torture.
“In addition to the bullet holes and scenes of destruction and terror, there were photos of the women on the walls and cupboards – photos of birthdays, celebrations, and certificates of appreciation from the army. As a father of girls, it was extremely difficult for me to see this and not be overwhelmed by my emotions.”
Yosef described the tasks his unit faced: identifying and packing bodies, cleaning army bases where the unspeakable horrors of October 7 had unfolded. He spoke of “chesed shel emet” – true kindness – the mitzvah of caring for the dead with no expectation of reward. It is this sacred obligation, and the faces of families waiting for answers, that compels him to continue despite the heavy toll on his heart.
His words hang heavy, because they carry not just memory, but grief, rage and love all at once. Since that day, YASAR have entered the worst battlefields imaginable in search of the fallen, to identify them, and to bring them home for burial in Israel. It is work that breaks the heart and leaves images that are impossible to unsee.
Since the beginning of the war, often under fire, they have located, identified and retrieved more than 600 soldiers who have died in service. In a historic mission this week, the YASAR unit, with Yosef present, were tasked with searching a cemetery in northern Gaza for the body of the final hostage, Ran Gvili.
Yosef told me that this macabre job required the unearthing of 250 bodies with the assistance of embedded forensic dental specialists, until they located and positively identified the body of the last hostage held in Gaza. It took them a week to find Ran’s body. His was the 250th body they searched. (In Hebrew 250 is the numerical value of Ran’s name).
Yosef shared with me the wave of emotion after Ran’s remains were positively identified. Soldiers were openly weeping. He told me of how the weeping changed to song, and to utter relief and joy that this grim chapter has finally been brought to a close. After an agonising wait of over two years, this historic mission tragically ended a nation’s anguish as Israelis waited and prayed for the return of their last remaining hostage.
As former prime minister Naftali Bennett so powerfully expressed: “Now that they have completed their holy work, we need to bow our heads and thank them. They have performed an act of true ‘chesed’ for the families of the fallen and indeed for the entire nation of Israel. Thank you for bringing our fallen sons and daughters home.”
These soldiers do not ask to be seen, but we must see them. We must remember that amid destruction, there are those who choose humanity, honour and mercy and who carry our fallen home with trembling hands and steadfast hearts.
Tuvia Book is a Jewish educator, author, licensed Israeli tour guide and reservist in the IDF.
This article contains an extract from his memoir Heroes of PALMAR, How One IDF unit Revolutionized Combat Medicine in Gaza.