In Nir Oz, hundreds bid farewell to slain hostage and kibbutz founder Arie Zalmanowicz

Hundreds attended the funeral of slain hostage Arie Zalmanowicz, 85, on Friday, as he was laid to rest in Kibbutz Nir Oz, the community which he founded and where he lived until he was abducted on October 7, 2023.

Among the family and friends attending the funeral were former hostages Yocheved Lifshitz, Tal Shoham and Farhan al-Qadi, who was held captive with Zalmanowicz.

Opposition lawmaker Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak and ex-IDF chief and opposition MK Gadi Eisenkot were also present. There were no coalition lawmakers or ministers at the service.

“My father’s entire essence and identity was Nir Oz, and I am sure he would want the wheat to grow here again,” said Boaz Zalmanowicz, Aryeh’s son, according to quotes attributed to him by the Davar news outlet.

Zalmanowicz was returned to Israel Tuesday night along with Tamir Adar, 38, also a resident of the kibbutz. Slain hostage Amiram Cooper is the last remaining Nir Oz resident still held in Gaza. Sixty-four kibbutz members were murdered on October 7.

Zalmanowicz, who was kidnapped from his home by Hamas terrorists, was one of the founders of the kibbutz, and was eulogized by its members after his return as “a man of agriculture, manual labor and blue work clothes.”

גדי איזנקוט הבוקר בהלוויית אריה זלמנוביץ׳ pic.twitter.com/f3XpAfahdB

— ישי כהן (@ishaycoen) October 24, 2025

Hamas, in November 2023, released a clip showing Zalmanowicz’s body and claiming that he had died, which Israeli authorities did not corroborate at the time. On December 1, 2023 – after the release of 105 hostages during a ceasefire – the IDF announced that Arie had been killed in captivity “based on findings that were collected, and intelligence.”

Authorities declared his date of death as November 17, 2023, with the IDF on Tuesday citing intelligence information that he was murdered in captivity that day. The military stressed that final conclusions would be made upon the completion of an analysis into the cause of death.

After he was declared dead in 2023, Zalmanowicz’s family sat shiva, the traditional Jewish week of mourning, but could not hold a funeral without his body. He is survived by his two sons, Boaz and Yoav, and five grandchildren. His wife, Ruth, died in 1997.

Qadi, who was rescued by IDF troops in August 2024, recounted after his release that he was held in a Gaza hospital with Zalmanowicz, who was diabetic, and was with him when he died due to lack of treatment, malnutrition and neglect.

“He told me stories. He had a granddaughter he loved so much and two sons who live up north, and he talked about them every chance he got,” Qadi recalled in an interview a week after his rescue. The day he died, “he was saying goodbye to the kibbutz, goodbye to his friends, goodbye to his granddaughter… It broke me. I tried to talk to him, I was calling him ‘Arie, Arie,’ but nothing. He wasn’t hearing me. And then it was all over.”

Zalmanowicz was one of four young men from Haifa who helped found Nir Oz – alongside Cooper and Lifshitz, and Shlomo Margalit, who survived the attack.

“He was a farmer by blood who knew how to appreciate and value the land and weather, understanding their impact on our lives,” Nir Oz said in a statement eulogizing Zalmanowicz.