Elderly hostage Oded Lifshitz ‘murdered more than a year ago’

Peace activist Oded Lifshitz, whose body was handed over by Hamas in a grotesque ceremony on Thursday night, was murdered in captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Crowds gathered at hostage square in Tel Aviv, with a large cutout of the late Oded Lifshitz, hours after the Palestinian group Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages. Picture: AFP.

Peace activist Oded Lifshitz, whose body was handed over by Hamas in a grotesque ceremony on Thursday night (AEDT), was murdered in captivity more than a year ago, Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine has confirmed.

Mr Lifshitz, 83, was captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but ended up in the hands of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who killed him, according to Chen Kugel, the centre’s director.

Hostages who returned to Israel during the first ceasefire deal in November 2023 reported being held captive with Mr Lifshitz, a founding member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, during their first month in Gaza.

While Mr Kugel did not mention by name the three additional hostages that were still in the process of being identified, Hamas said it had returned the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, also taken hostage from their home in Nir Oz.

The four bodies were handed over under the first phase of a ceasefire that took effect on January 19. As well as parading the hostages’ caskets on stage in front of a picture of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu portrayed as Dracula, it has emerged the terror group inserted propaganda material inside the coffins.

Israel’s state broadcaster Kan reports that after the material was found, Jerusalem contacted the mediators of the current ceasefire deal and demanded action against what it says was a desecration of the sanctity of the dead.

So far militants have freed 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

Another six living hostages are to be released on Saturday, while four more bodies are to be handed over next week.

Meanwhile, Hamas has accused Mr Netanyahu of “procrastinating” on negotiations for the second phase of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

“The second phase negotiations have not practically begun, and we are ready to engage in them as stipulated in the agreement,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said in a statement, adding that “Netanyahu is procrastinating regarding the second phase”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday said talks would begin this week on the ceasefire’s second phase, aiming to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP on Wednesday that Hamas was ready to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during phase two.

Hamas and its allies took 251 people captive during their attack. Prior to Thursday’s handover, there were 70 hostages in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

AFP