Particular Correspondent
LIFSCHITZ FAMILYFrom her space in East London, British-Israeli Sharone Lifschitz by no means gave up hope that her 84-year-old father Oded would go back from the horror of Hamas captivity, later greater than 500 days.
He used to be a person of holiday, a campaigner for, and a pal of, Palestinians.
He used to be dragged from his house via Palestinian gunmen on October seventh and killed in captivity later being taken to Gaza alive.
The go back of his frame on Thursday used to be unfortunate information for Ms Lifschitz and her public, specifically her mom Yocheved who used to be additionally a hostage however returned alive and now won’t be able to reunite along with her husband of 63 years.
Next figuring out Oded’s frame, the top of Israel’s Nationwide Institute of Forensic Drugs mentioned he used to be killed in captivity greater than a 12 months in the past. The Israeli Top Minister’s Place of work mentioned he “was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.”
The BBC had been with Sharone, a filmmaker and educational, at her house when the ceasefire used to be introduced extreme time.
She loose tears of pleasure and hope as at extreme she noticed a possibility the place she would uncover what had came about to her father. Next greater than a 12 months of him being held hostage, she didn’t know if he used to be alive or useless.
ReutersSharone Lifschitz admitted after that at his generation the hopes for his survival had been thin, however she additionally believed “miracles can happen.”
Ms Lifschitz has been an eloquent and dignified expression for the drop of her father and the alternative hostages, and loose bright at the injury the hostage households have confronted since their ordeal started.
“One way or another, we will know. We will know if he’s still with us, if we can look after him. We will know who we are grieving for… My father didn’t deserve this.
But she recognised there were “extra graves to return.”
And now, one will be for her father.
Oded Lifshitz was a journalist and veteran campaigner for peace who drove sick Palestinians to hospitals in Israel for treatment. In his campaign for Palestinian rights he met Yasser Arafat, then head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
He helped to found Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived and was taken hostage from. It was a place where he was well-known for the cacti that he grew, the piano he played and the grandchildren he adored.
About 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed in the October 7 attacks and 251 others, including Oded and Yocheved, taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas in response, which has killed at least 48,297 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Oded’s wife Yocheved, who was freed as a hostage by Hamas in 2023, met then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar while held in the tunnels under Gaza – and told him he should be ashamed of himself.
The British lawyers supporting the family said “Yocheved should be the one particular person to have met Sinwar, Netanyahu and the Pope, and given all of them a work of her thoughts. This is the type of peculiar particular person she is.”
On Wednesday, as she received a peace award for her campaigning for the hostages, she said: “Oded used to be a admirable fighter for holiday. He had superb members of the family with Palestinians and the article that hurts probably the most is that they betrayed him.”
His family said they could now mourn for a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, but after “503 agonising days of hesitancy”, they had “was hoping and prayed for a distinct consequence.”