Oded Lifshitz, 83: Retired journalist and lifelong peace activist

Oded Lifshitz, 83, from Nir Oz, was kidnapped from the kibbutz on October 7 and slain in Palestinian Islamic Jihad captivity.

He was taken hostage along with his wife, Yocheved, who was released from captivity just two weeks later on October 23, 2023, revealing that the couple were not held together in Gaza.

Oded was shot in the hand when he was taken captive, and Israeli authorities later determined that he died in Gaza on October 26, 2023. His family believes he may have succumbed to his wounds in captivity due to lack of treatment and his advanced age and other medical conditions. The National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Prime Minister’s Office said he was slain in captivity.

Oded’s body was returned to Israel in February 2025 as part of a larger ceasefire and hostage release deal, only then fully confirming his death for his loved ones.

He was buried in Kibbutz Nir Oz on February 25, 2025, after a funeral procession through central Israel, where mourners turned out holding Israeli flags. Oded is survived by his wife, Yocheved, their four children, Arnon, Yizhar, Sharone and Omri, 10 grandchildren, one great-grandchild and a sister, Thelma.

Oded was born and raised in Haifa, to parents who came to Israel in the 1930s from Germany and Poland. He belonged to the Hashomer Hatzir youth movement from a young age and joined a group to establish Kibbutz Nir Oz as a teenager.

During his army service, he served in the paratroopers unit, and later as a reservist, he fought in the Six Day War, the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon War.

Oded earned a degree from Tel Aviv University and became a journalist, enjoying a long career at the left-leaning (and now defunct) newspaper Al-Hamishmar, which was associated with the kibbutz movement.

He was also a longtime peace activist who fought for the rights of Bedouins and other minorities in Israel, and together with Yocheved volunteered to drive Gazans to Israeli hospitals for medical care in his later years.

Oded was a dedicated member of the kibbutz for close to 70 years, holding a number of positions, including as secretary, coordinator, treasurer, economic chairman and chairman of the education committee.

In an online post, Nir Oz described him as “a man of action and a man of faith in a better future.” Oded they added, “plowed the land with the same love with which he nurtured the community around him, always looking for ways to build bridges of understanding, to connect and unite.”

His loved ones said Oded loved to play the piano, and carefully and lovingly tended his cactus garden in Nir Oz. He was an avid recycler, turning garbage into artistic creations, and believed in eating multiple ice cream treats a day, his family said.

At his funeral in Nir Oz, Yocheved recalled that together “we grew children and cacti, we traveled the world, we took our grandchildren to experience with us all that we loved.”

She added: “We fought all through the years for social justice, for peace. To my sorrow, we were hit by a terrible blow by those we helped on the other side.”

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