Freed Israeli who told Hamas leader he ‘should be ashamed’ says she’s indifferent to his death

The daughter of an 85-year-old former Israeli hostage who told  Yahya Sinwar he “should be ashamed of himself” for planning the 7 October massacres, says her mother is “indifferent” to the Hamas leader’s death.

Sharone Lifschitz told Jewish News that Israel had “killed loads of leaders over the years and they get replaced, one with another. What’s irreplaceable are the hostages. We are waiting for them — and I think some people thought to begin with that Sinwar’s death would usher their return, but it doesn’t seem to be doing that. So my mother is cautious, like everybody, because of the level of chaos in Gaza, and how that might affect the hostages.”

Yocheved Lifshitz, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was released from captivity after 17 days in Gaza, together with another older woman. Her husband Oded, 84, is as far as the family knows, still a hostage — and their daughter acknowledges that the chances of her father’s survival are “slim”.

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In October 2023, Mrs Lifshitz told reporters after her release that she had met Sinwar in the Gaza tunnels. She said: “Sinwar was with us three to four days after we arrived. I asked him how he is not ashamed to do such a thing to people who have supported peace all these years,” and added that the Hamas leader, who was killed by Israeli troops last week, had not responded to her challenge.

Her daughter had not been surprised by her mother’s action. Sharone Lifschitz said: “My mum really is someone who will speak truth to power. In a recent interview in Israel she was asked if she had been afraid about speaking back to Sinwar. She said, no, what have I got to be afraid of? I’m an 85-year-old woman. She operates on a very clear set of values. I think she was just annoyed, angry”.

She added: “It’s not that my mother is tough. She is just clear-headed. She employs her heart, she does what she believes is right.”

Sharone Lifschitz deplored those currently celebrating Sinwar’s death. “Celebrating death is not part of Jewish tradition, to my mind: it’s a complete bastardisation of what it means to be Jewish. I have no sympathy for Sinwar, I think he was a murderous fundamentalist who was ready to sacrifice us and every sane person in the Middle East and beyond. But to put his dead image on Israeli TV at 4.30pm in the afternoon when children are watching — this is not what we should aspire to be. There is nothing to celebrate. Our enemies celebrated 7 October, it showed who they are as humans. I don’t celebrate death, I would celebrate the return of the hostages”.

Comparing Sinwar to Hitler “drives nothing forward”, she said. “What drives forward is fighting for the lives of the hostages, and for the soldiers”. But she also noted the “devastation” in Gaza and observed that “whether we like it or not, [the Palestinians] are our neighbours and we share the same space. From my parents’ house you can see their destroyed houses. My parents’ house is destroyed, too”.

Even those who did not care for the children of Gaza, Ms Lifschitz said, had to remember that “our hostages are in the hands of Palestinians. They are seeing children burned alive, seeing devastation, the level of trauma happening in Gaza. Do you think it helps our hostages when we prevent food getting into Gaza? Our loved ones are being held by people who see their loved ones in dire straits. All this dancing and calls for revenge [after Sinwar’s death] — for the hostage families, it’s heartbreaking”.