A British university lecturer is praying that 'miracles do happen' and that her 84-year-old Hamas hostage dad will soon be freed. Oded Lifschitz is named on the list of 33 hostages to be released. His daughter Sharone, 53, fears he could have died in captivity but told the Mirror: “There is just a glimmer of hope, but we are bracing ourselves for the worst. I just don’t know how I am going to handle the news either way. I wish I knew how to prepare for that. My dad is resilient. He can speak Arabic, and he visited Gaza several times trying to help create education for peace.
“My dad and mum took Gazans from the border to Israeli hospitals every Saturday. But I don’t think any of these good deeds will make any difference to how his captors have been treating him.' She added: 'Miracles do happen.' Oded was shot through his bedroom door and his wife was fast asleep when Hamas gunmen burst in with sub-machine guns on October 7th. Yocheved, 85, and Oded were forced across the fields of their kibbutz and into Gaza. She was released along with another elderly woman 16 days later.
Sharone, from Walthamstow, north east London said: “When my mother goes to bed each night and when she wakes up, she still believes she is in the tunnels. She cannot feel she is free until my dad comes home. 'I miss my dad devastatingly,” added Sharone who has lived in the UK for 30 years. 'He’s a warm person who really fought for a better future for the region. “He really believes in our capacity as human beings to build bridges and work for a greater good.'.
