The Americans exerted heavy pressure behind the scenes. They made it clear to the mediators—primarily Qatar and Turkey—that after the return of the living hostages, they also expected the bodies to be recovered. They warned that any mediator that did not take part in these efforts would be excluded from future mediation roles.

The hostages were classified into groups based on the difficulty of locating them. Ran Gvili, a fallen hostage, was placed in one of the most difficult categories to recover—by my understanding, the second most challenging case, after the Thai hostage.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was preparing a speech for Wednesday stating that there would be no second stage without Ran Gvili. In the end, that speech was not needed.