Israeli family mourns ‘man of peace’ as body returned from Gaza

From her home in east London, British-Israeli Sharone Lifschitz by no means gave up hope that her 84-year-old father Oded would return from the horror of Hamas captivity, after greater than 500 days.

He was a person of peace, a campaigner for, and a pal of, Palestinians.

He was dragged from his house by Palestinian gunmen on 7 October and killed in captivity after being taken to Gaza alive.

The return of his physique on Thursday was devastating information for Ms Lifschitz and her household, notably her mom Yocheved who was also a hostage but returned alive and now will be unable to reunite along with her husband of 63 years.

After figuring out Oded’s physique, the pinnacle of Israel’s Nationwide Institute of Forensic Drugs stated he had been killed in captivity greater than a 12 months in the past. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Workplace stated he “was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist group.”

The BBC have been with Sharone, a filmmaker and educational, at her house when the ceasefire was introduced final month.

She shed tears of pleasure and hope as finally she noticed a possibility the place she would uncover what had occurred to her father. After greater than a 12 months of him being held hostage, she did not know if he was alive or useless.

Sharone Lifschitz admitted then that at his age the hopes for his survival have been slim, however she additionally believed “miracles can occur”.

Ms Lifschitz has been an eloquent and dignified voice for the discharge of her father and the opposite hostages, and make clear the trauma the hostage households have confronted since their ordeal started.

“A technique or one other, we are going to know. We are going to know if he is nonetheless with us, if we are able to take care of him. We are going to know who we’re grieving for… My father did not deserve this.

However she recognised there have been “extra graves to come back.”

And now, one will likely be for her father.

Oded Lifshitz was a journalist and veteran campaigner for peace who drove sick Palestinians to hospitals in Israel for remedy. In his marketing campaign for Palestinian rights he met Yasser Arafat, then head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

He helped to discovered Kibbutz Nir Oz, the place he lived and was taken hostage from. It was a spot the place he was well-known for the cacti that he grew, the piano he performed and the grandchildren he adored.

In a tribute, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated he was “deeply saddened” by Oded’s dying, and despatched his “heartfelt condolences” to his household.

“After I met Sharone in Downing Avenue, she confirmed exceptional power within the face of essentially the most troublesome circumstances,” Sir Keir stated.

“The information of her father’s dying is a tragedy. It’s my hope that the peace he labored to see within the area by way of his charity work and activism will likely be achieved.”

About 1,200 individuals – principally civilians – have been killed within the 7 October assaults and 251 others, together with Oded and Yocheved, taken again to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a large navy marketing campaign towards Hamas in response, which has killed a minimum of 48,297 Palestinians – primarily civilians – in accordance with the Hamas-run well being ministry.

In addition to Oded, three different our bodies have been launched by Hamas on Thursday – who Hamas stated have been Shiri Bibas, 33, and her two younger sons, Ariel and Kfir.

However on Thursday evening, Israel’s navy accused Hamas of handing over the body of an unidentified person as an alternative of that of Ms Bibas.

“Through the identification course of, it was decided that the extra physique acquired shouldn’t be that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was discovered for every other hostage,” the Israel Protection Forces stated.

Oded’s spouse Yocheved, who was freed as a hostage by Hamas in 2023, met then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar whereas held within the tunnels underneath Gaza – and instructed him he must be ashamed of himself.

The British legal professionals supporting the household stated “Yocheved have to be the one individual to have met Sinwar, Netanyahu and the Pope, and given all of them a bit of her thoughts. That’s the type of extraordinary individual she is.”

On Wednesday, as she acquired a peace award for her campaigning for the hostages, she stated: “Oded was a fantastic fighter for peace. He had superb relations with Palestinians and the factor that hurts essentially the most is that they betrayed him.”

His household stated they might now mourn for a husband, father, grandfather and nice grandfather, however after “503 agonising days of uncertainty”, they’d “hoped and prayed for a distinct final result”.