(Day 843) Swords of Iron – “Details of the Operation”

When all seems lost, we still have to believe in miracles. The fact that Ran Gvili, the last hostage, came home—and that the Psalm was read, “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep”—is extraordinary. Even as our enemies built infrastructure to destroy us, it came crumbling down.

There are so many details surrounding the effort to bring this last hostage home. It was truly phenomenal. The arrest of an Islamic Jihad terrorist involved in military operations against us ultimately provided the information about where his body was located. We were searching several possible locations before finding the correct one: the Al-Batash cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip.

Based on this intelligence, the Shin Bet launched a large-scale operation with us. My special operations unit Yahalom identified him in a very intense operation—I won’t go into details here—and brought him home. The joy that the impossible is possible. Who would have thought that every single hostage would return home, including the bodies, for honorable burial? Who would have guessed?

His parents were amazed to find him whole and were able to finally bury him in his uniform. Standing here on the yellow line, it’s truly incredible.

We pray the prayer Matir Asurim: “Blessed is He who frees

the captives and brings them home”. This applies to all the Jewish people, who one day will return to the Promised Land and be established here. It’s just phenomenal.

The mission was called Operation Braveheart. Everyone who fought to protect and defend Israel and to bring Sergeant Gvili home is a Braveheart. I am deeply honored to serve alongside them. There were medical professionals performing hundreds of forensic identification procedures, others providing health support for soldiers who had seen and handled so many bodies. It was incredibly intense.

The intelligence community, the Air Force—everyone who contributed—worked together as one system. The person who folds the parachutes is no less important than the commando like me who uses them.

I hope that Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the Nukhba, Hezbollah, even the al-Shababa youth camps, will undergo real change. This should send a message to jihadists worldwide—including Boko Haram and ISIS—that crime does not pay. These tunnels under hospitals, mosques, and kindergartens must stop. The head of the octopus—Iran—must stop.

Iran’s naval commander claims they are fully armed and ready for action. At the moment, there does not appear to be an imminent strike, but we don’t know what will happen, so we remain on full alert.

The UAE and Qatar have stated refusal for their territories to be used by anyone to launch any offensive on Iran.

Jeremiah 31:35–36; “Only if these decrees vanish from My sight—the sun and the moon in the sky—only then will Israel vanish from My sight. Israel shall remain a nation before Me.”

We’re not going anywhere.