We Mourn the Loss of Oded Lifshitz

Although forensic confirmation is still awaited, it now seems tragically certain: The kidnapped Israeli journalist Oded Lifshitz is dead. On Thursday 20 February 2025, Hamas handed over his body along with those of three other hostages: Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir. Lifshitz was kidnapped along with his wife, Yocheved, during the Hamas attack on the 7th of October, 2023. Yocheved was released in October 2023.

In our resolution On the Fate of Journalist Oded Lifshitz, we had called for a sign of life.

Lifshitz was a journalist for the labor newspaper Al-HaMishmar. After the Six-Day War in 1967, he opposed the occupation of territories outside the 1949 armistice lines. Very often, Oded Lifshitz picked up Palestinians at the Gaza border to drive them to Israeli hospitals, including just two weeks before his abduction on October 7, 2023.

Our deepest condolences to the wife and family of Oded Lifshitz as well as to the Bibas family.