Dror Or — the third-to-last hostage body returned to Israel from Gaza — was finally laid to rest on Sunday, November 30, 2025, bringing a painful chapter to a close for his tight-knit community in Kibbutz Be’eri. Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists murdered Dror’s wife Yonat on October 7th, killed Dror and took his body and also kidnapped two of their three kids alive.
Alma and Noam Or were abducted to Gaza and released in the first ceasefire deal. Their oldest child, Yahli, was not at home on October 7 and was in the north doing a national year of volunteering. When terrorists entered the Or family home and set it on fire, Dror and Yonat Or instructed their kids to jump out the window, run, and stay together. That heroic sacrifice saved their lives. Dror’s body was returned on November 28, 2025, exactly two years – to the day — after his children were released alive from captivity in Gaza.
His children delivered raw, emotional testimonies at the funeral, crying into the microphone as they said goodbye at last. Dror Or was raised in Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest hit Gaza border communities. Also attending the funeral were the family of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza, and former hostage Eli Sharabi, alongside hundreds of Be’eri residents. Dror’s mother, Dorit Or, described her son’s early life, his love of basketball, and his travels.
At a young age, he met Yonat while working in the Kibbutz Be’eri printing press. The couple moved to Tel Aviv where Dror Or went to culinary school before moving back to Kibbutz Be’eri in 2004. Soon after, he began to make cheeses and later ran the Be’eri dairy. Dror traveled to Europe studying and learning the best cheese practices before making cheeses here in Israel. Yonat Or, his late wife, owned a carpentry shop and home design business in Be’eri, and she became a well known figure in Israeli interior design. Also present at the funeral was Israeli singer Ehud Banai, a favorite of the Or family. The funeral was held at the beeri cemetary where thousands came to pay their respects. At the end, people took flowers and laid it on the fresh grave of Dror Or.
Each one came to support the Or family at this time. One cousin told the Israel Daily News they will begin to eat cheese again after a two-year pause in solidarity with Dror.
The cousin said that “family holidays are as normal as possible.” He also issued a stern message to the Israeli government, echoing the words of Dror’s father, Yuval, who blasted the government as “criminal and that doesn’t take responsibility.” He also wants it to “disappear” and return to the “democratic, liberal, peace, loving country that we should be.” He also hoped that the elections would be “fair, without manipulation, and will reflect the majority.”
The Israel Daily News also spoke with Itzik Gvili, father of Ran Gvili who is waiting to receive the body of his son, the last hostage body left in Gaza. Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai national who was killed on October 7th and taken into Gaza, was returned and identified on December 4, 2025, leaving Gvili as the only hostage remaining.
After Or’s burial, the Hostages and Missing Families forum announced that it would tone down activity and ultimately suspend Saturday night rallies after two years. They report that rallies cost more than 61,000 US dollars and that now with just one Israeli hostage family waiting, with the other family being in Thailand, the Saturday night rallies will be suspended. But Friday afternoon ones, which are less reliant on tech, speakers and music, will continue on. The family of Ran Gvili say they instead will be doing communal Kabbalat Shabbat, which is a ceremonious time of song each week that officially welcomes the sabbath.
In exchange for Dror Or’s body, 15 Palestinian prisoners were released.
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