British-linked peace activist Oded Lifshitz identified among deceased hostages returned to Israel

Oded Lifshitz, an 85-year-old journalist and peace activist, has been formally identified as one of the four deceased hostages returned to Israel this morning.

The remains the captives have been handed over to the IDF, after being transferred from Gaza via the Red Cross.

The others are believed to be the two youngest hostage – Kfir and Ariel Bibas – and their mother, Shiri.

Israel hoped that Hamas would refrain from the indignity of a public handover event, but the terror group carried out the handover to the Red Cross at a public site with masked gunmen and hundreds of other Gazans gathered, including children.

Members of Hamas’ military wing were seated prominently in front of the stage. According to Israeli media, one of those in the front row was Mohamed Abu Warda, who was convicted of a 1996 bus bombing that claimed the lives of 44 people but was released from prison as part of the current ceasefire deal.

Israeli officials have, for the first time, confirmed the deaths of the Bibas family (Image: Getty)Getty Images

Terrorists set up a stage with a distasteful picture of the four hostages being returned in the background and insisted that the Red Cross official signing the transfer papers did so on the stage. She then needed to walk past gunmen and the crowd to the ambulances.

The coffins had propaganda messages on them, including listing October 7, 2023 as the captives’ “date of arrest”.

They were displayed in front of a banner depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire, with a pool of blood containing images of the Bibas family and Lifshitz dripping from his mouth, accompanied by the slogan blaming “the war criminal Netanyahu” for their deaths.

IDF forces have held a memorial ceremony led by military personnel and a rabbi. The caskets, draped in Israeli flags, were then transported to Israel for identification.

Soldiers held a memorial for the group before the coffins were taken to a forensic institute for identification (Image: IDF)[Missing Credit]

However, Burial will not be immediate.

The bodies have since arrived the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification – a process which could take up to 48 hours.

Members of the Israeli public gathered with flags along the route that the ambulance carrying the bodies took to the institute, as a mark of respect. Many of the crowd wore orange ribbons, in reference to the red hair of the Bibas children, and sang the Israeli national anthem as the convoy passed.

When the names of today’s returnees were confirmed last night, it was the first confirmation that Lifshitz was dead.

Kidnapped at age 83 from the kibbutz he founded, Nir Oz, the violence he was subjected to went against everything he had dedicated his life to as a journalist and peace activist. His grandchildren called him “Super Grandpa” for his wisdom and love.

Kfir Bibas was just nine months old when he was abducted (Image: Getty)AFP via Getty Images

The Bibas family have been icons of the cruelty of October 7, and campaigners around the world have been hoping and praying for them. It is not yet known when they died, though Hamas claimed they were killed by an air strike in November 2023.

Shiri Bibas was 32 at the time of her kidnapping, and her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, were nine months and four years old respectively.

While Hamas had already said the Bibas bodies would return, last night marked the first confirmation from Israeli officials that Shiri and the children were dead.

Mourning the confirmed death of both Lifshitz and the Bibas family, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a statement: “This news cuts like a knife through our hearts, the families’ hearts and the hearts of people all over the world.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke about the return of the bodies, and of the upcoming return of live hostages on Saturday, saying: “These days are a wake-up call — not just for our nation, but for the entire family of nations. In the face of this evil — led by the evil Iranian regime — we must stand together, resolutely, firmly, and courageously.”

In the UK, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has issued a statement, saying: “It is pure evil to take a mother and her young children and an elderly man hostage. It takes another layer of evil to be responsible for their deaths.

“And yet a further layer of evil to trade their bodies to release hundreds of prisoners including terrorists serving life sentences for murder. This is what Israel is up against.

“Today, all decent people around the world mourn with Israel, Kibbutz Nir Oz, and the Bibas and Lifshitz families.

“With broken hearts, we pray for the return of all the hostages and a just and lasting peace.”

The Lifshitz family issued its own statement this afternoon, saying: “We received with deep sorrow the official and bitter news confirming the identification of our beloved Oded's body. 503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end.

"We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome. Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7.

"Our family's healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”

Likewise, the lawyers representing the families of British-linked hostages, including relatives of Oded Lifshitz, stated: “Today...is one of immense sadness, and of failure.

“It appears that 503 days after they were taken from their homes by Hamas terrorists, the bodies of four people have been returned to Israel.

"We cannot confirm yet whose bodies have been returned, but four bodies represent four whole worlds, and four total failures – as we said when we took the British hostage families to meet with Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street: this is what failure looks like.

“It came as no surprise that the terrorists chose to make a gruesome pantomime of the handover of the bodies this morning. Hostage taking is inherently abusive and undignified - that is why it is a war crime.

“May all of their memories be for a blessing. If the deaths are confirmed, we wish their grieving families long life.”

Meanwhile, in Argentina, where the Bibas family are dual citizens, President Milei has declared a national day of mourning in their memory.