He graduated from a night school in Sambir and worked as a mechanic at the Lviv Forklift Plant.

After demobilization, he entered the department of the History Faculty of Lviv State University.

On August 24, 1965, he was arrested and sentenced to 3 years in a strict regime camp for "anti-Soviet propaganda".

Ivan Gel returned to Ukraine on January 17, 1987, and created and headed the Committee for the Protection of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

He headed the Lviv Regional Commission for the Restoration of the Rights of Rehabilitated Persons.