October 7 · Personal story
Oded Lifshitz
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz
Current outcome
Returned for burial · February 20, 2025
His remains were returned to Israel for burial on 20 February 2025.
01
Life before
Oded Lifshitz was born in Haifa in 1940 and grew up during war and the founding years of Israel. He studied at the Reali School and joined Hashomer Hatzair before serving with a Nahal paratrooper group. He came to Nir Oz in 1958, met Yocheved there and married her in 1960. They built their home in the kibbutz and raised four children. Lifshitz worked in agriculture, then served as kibbutz secretary and treasurer. His memorial describes him as sensitive, intelligent and modest. He later became a journalist and wrote for Al-Hamishmar and other newspapers. His public work included minority rights and efforts toward peace. At home he played piano, tended a cactus garden, solved logic puzzles and made time for his grandchildren, teaching them in the kibbutz workshop and taking them around on a golf cart. He made tents from chairs at home and taught one granddaughter piano.
02
Abduction
On 7 October 2023, attackers entered the Lifshitz home in Nir Oz. Oded tried to close the safe-room door and was shot in the hand. Yocheved was taken away first; Oded was left wounded, then abducted to Gaza. His National Insurance Institute memorial describes this sequence at their home.
03
Captivity
The National Insurance Institute records 26 October 2023 as Oded’s date of death and states that he was murdered in captivity. The memorial says he spent 20 days captive with his neighbor Hanna Katzir. Yocheved returned alive on 23 October 2023; Katzir was released in November. Israeli military identification and family notification took place in February 2025, confirming his death and recovery of his remains.
04
Return
Oded’s remains returned to Israel on 20 February 2025, more than a year after the official memorial’s recorded date of death. The family then received his remains for burial in the kibbutz where he had spent most of his adult life.
05
Aftermath
Lifshitz was buried in the Nir Oz cemetery. He and Yocheved raised four children, eleven grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. His family described him as curious, politically engaged and close to each grandchild. He made breakfasts for visiting grandchildren, showed them the tractors and stable, held summer learning days, and taught woodworking. He remained active in social work and journalism after retirement. He was a devoted grandfather. His cactus garden and logic puzzles were part of home life, and his granddaughters remembered his cap and the pen in his shirt pocket.