After over 500 days in Gaza captivity, the family of Oded Lifshitz said in a statement on Thursday that the body of their father and grandfather, who was returned to Israel this morning from the Gaza Strip, has been positively identified at the Institute for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.
"503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end," the family said. "We had hoped and prayed so much that our end would be different. Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather we have been missing since October 7. Rebuilding our family will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned."
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A police convoy carrying the bodies of slain hostages Oded Lifshitz and Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas
(Photo: Jack GUEZ / AFP)
The Hostages, Missing Persons and Returnees Directorate of the Prime Minister's Office extended condolences to the Lifshitz family, stating, "We bow our heads and send our sympathies; we will continue to support the family. We pray for the swift return of all hostages."
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German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert paid tribute to Lifshitz, saying, "This is heartbreaking—Oded Lifshitz, a man of peace and reconciliation with the Palestinians, a German citizen, was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas. As he returns home, my heart is with his family. May the memory of this gentle man and his life be a blessing."
Lifshitz, 85, was one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz and had ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He was abducted from his home along with his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, who was later released in a hostage deal in November 2023. Yocheved recounted that on the morning of the October 7 massacre, Oded tried to close the door to their safe room, but the attackers shot him in the hand. She was taken away on a motorbike while Oded lay unconscious and bleeding at their doorstep. It was later revealed that the captors dressed him in a galabiya and held him for 20 days with fellow hostage Hanna Katzir, who was also later freed.
Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz created a renowned cactus garden in Nir Oz. Their grandson, Daniel, said, "My grandfather came to Nir Oz in 1956. The kibbutz was the life’s work of both him and my grandmother." Oded was also a longtime peace activist who transported Palestinian cancer patients from Gaza to receive treatment in Israeli hospitals.
His son, Yizhar, said this week that his father "ended his life in a tragic, humiliating, and degrading way—unworthy and disgraceful. This was the fate of so many in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His home was burned, his wife was kidnapped and beaten before his eyes. Horrific. He was left without family, without children, without closure."
Describing the tragedy experienced by many families, he said, "Hostages lived through an entire existence in there without us, under terrible conditions, and that void will always remain."
He also spoke of the painful sense of loss: "When some come back alive and others don’t, you feel the missed chance. But I don't compare myself to parents who lost children—my father was 84 when he was kidnapped. He had grandchildren; he lived a full life."