Body of hostage Dror Or returned to Israel
Be’eri family finally able to bury devoted father Dror alongside wife Yonat, after body returned from Gaza
Israel has confirmed that the body of Dror Or, the Be’eri father murdered on 7 October 2023 and taken into Gaza, was returned to the country on Tuesday evening – exactly two years after two of his children were freed from Hamas captivity.
Authorities said the remains were transferred by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas to the Red Cross before being handed to the IDF. Identification was completed overnight at the Abu Kabir forensic institute and the family formally notified early Wednesday.
Or, 48, was killed when terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be’eri, murdering his wife Yonat and abducting their younger children, Noam and Alma, who were released alive during the November 2023 ceasefire. Their eldest son, Yahli, was not at home at the time of the massacre.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the government “shares in the deep sorrow of the Or family,” adding that Israel “remains determined and committed to securing the return of the remaining slain hostages for burial.” Only two bodies are still held in Gaza: police officer Master Sgt Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Kibbutz Be’eri said Or’s return marked the deeply symbolic moment when “for the first time since 7 October, there are no hostages from Kibbutz Be’eri in captivity.” The community described him as a “devoted father of three… and a loving husband to the late Yonat.”
Born in nearby Kibbutz Re’im Or trained as a chef after attending the Tadmor Culinary School and later became a central figure in Be’eri’s renowned dairy. Friends and colleagues remembered him as a gifted cheesemaker with “a golden touch” and a passion for the craft he studied in Italy and France.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Or was “an active and involved father and a loving and supportive husband,” adding that his cheeses were cherished by “all who had the pleasure of tasting his handmade creations.”
The Or family had previously held shiva after it was confirmed in May 2024 that Dror had been murdered on 7 October, but they were unable to bury him without his body. In recent weeks, his relatives expressed fear that the fragile ceasefire could collapse before his remains were returned.
For Noam and Alma, relatives said, the chance to bury their father beside their mother in Be’eri – the place they grew up – carries profound meaning and closes one of the most painful chapters of their ordeal.
The transfer took place as Israel, under the terms of the ceasefire, returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza via the Kissufim crossing – the agreed exchange for each fallen hostage repatriated.
Or will now be laid to rest in the kibbutz he loved, ending a two-year wait for the family’s final act of mourning.
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