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Yizhar Lifshitz, son of Oded Lifshitz, said that the family members first learned Wednesday afternoon from the terrorist organizations in Gaza that their father would be included in the release of the four killed hostages on Thursday morning. With the families' approval, Israel later announced that the hostages who would be returned were Shiri Bibas and her children, Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz. "Until he is identified, nothing will be determined, but we are prepared for it to happen tomorrow," he told Ynet.
Even before Israel announced receiving the list, Yitzhar Lipshitz said, "We saw a statement from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Everything shows that it's going to happen tomorrow, but until they actually pass the body over, and until we know that they didn't make some mistake then we will get the answer and that's it. We have known for a long time that there is fear for his life."
"The feelings are difficult," Yitzhar described. "The feeling is that he left alive, was kidnapped alive, and returned dead. The kibbutz is burned, the community is slaughtered, so what feelings can there be? Not simple feelings."
He spoke of the many hostages from the kibbutz who were murdered in captivity, including Haim Perry, Alex Danzig and Yoram Metzger. "We miss them. Members of Kibbutz Nir Oz who were murdered in the tunnels and were returned. There are five of them. That's part of the tragedy here, but it's closing a circle." He said he wanted to join the celebrations of the families of the hostages who will return on Saturday, but right now "there is no appropriate time for such things, and it will come. We will deal with it."
As the son of your father Oded, how do you feel?
"I feel like an orphan. The story of the kidnappings is one of the most difficult, because there is no orderly separation from the kidnapped. We know that my father lived in an apartment for at least two or three weeks after he was kidnapped. He was wounded, in pain, bruised from the beatings and with gunshot wounds in his hand – alone, miserable, in some apartment in Khan Younis, without knowing what happened to his friends from the kibbutz or to my mother."
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Yizhar Lipshitz said there was evidence that his father was looking for her, and asked if anyone knew what happened to her. "But my mother was kidnapped straight into the tunnels, and he was kidnapped later to another place. He tried to figure out what happened to her - but they had never met since the moment they broke into the protected room."
He added that "as his son, I would have preferred to know that he was murdered on October 7th outside his home in Nir Oz rather than that he had to go through all this suffering and torture and be alone and die like a dog there in Gaza. It's a sad story, his life ended in a tragic and humiliating, undeserved, despicable way. So did many from the Kibbutz Nir Oz community. His house was burned down, his wife was kidnapped with beatings that he must have seen. Terrible. Without the family, without children, without closure."
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Yocheved Lifshitz was also kidnapped to Gaza but returned less than 2 months later
(Photo: Paulina Pettimer)
According to him, this is a tragedy that accompanies many families: "Hostages who lived their entire lives inside there without us, in terrible distress, and this hole will always remain." He also spoke about the feeling of loss that accompanies those who have lost a relative: "When some return alive and some dead, you feel the loss. But I don't compare myself to parents who lost children - my father was 84 years old, he had grandchildren, he lived a full life."
Arrived at Nir Oz in 1956: 'His life's work'
Oded was kidnapped from his home on the kibbutz. His wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, was also kidnapped from their home and was released in October 2023 along with Nurit Cooper. Yocheved said that on the morning of the massacre Oded tried to close the door to the protected room but the terrorists shot him in the hand. She was taken by the terrorists on a moped while Oded lay in the doorway of the house, unconscious and bleeding. It later emerged that the kidnappers had dressed Oded in a galabiya and that he had been held captive for 20 days with Hana Katzir, who was also kidnapped and released.
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Oded Lifshitz's unusual cactus garden in Nir Oz, visited by his grandson
(Photo: Tomer Shonam Halevi)
Yocheved and Oded Lifshitz established a magnificent and unique cactus garden in Nir Oz. Daniel, their grandson, said: "My grandfather arrived in Nir Oz in 1956, the kibbutz is his and my grandmother's life's work." Oded was a former peace activist who transported Palestinian cancer patients from Gaza to receive treatment in hospitals in Israel.
The Lifshitz family asked to convey through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum: "These hours are not easy for us, after we were informed that our beloved Oded is on the list of thedead hostages who will return to Israel tomorrow, after being kidnapped alive from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. For 502 days we hoped and prayed for a different ending, but until we receive absolute certainty, our journey will not end, and even after that we will continue to fight until the last hostage is returned."