Dror Or of Kibbutz Be’eri, beloved father and cheesemaker, buried alongside his wife

Family eulogizes couple as ‘people of freedom and light, of spirit and creativity,’ assails political leadership for evading responsibility for October 7 attack

Dror Or, a devoted father and husband from Kibbutz Be’eri who was murdered on October 7, 2023, was buried on Sunday morning, more than two years after his body was abducted to the Gaza Strip.

Or, whose body was released to Israel last Tuesday under the terms of the ceasefire with Hamas, was buried alongside his wife, Yonat Or, who was also murdered by Hamas terrorists in the October 7 onslaught that sparked the war in Gaza.

Elad, Or’s older brother, said in his eulogy that he would never be able to comprehend the enormity of the tragedy.

“I will never in my life really understand how this could have happened to you and to Yonat — how you were attacked like that in your beautiful home, with such terrible evil,” he said. “And how you somehow managed to tell Alma and Noam to run, and then they caught you. I never want to understand it.”

Or was considered a living hostage until May 2, 2024, when IDF intelligence showed that he was killed on October 7 and his body was taken to Gaza.

His two younger children, Noam, 17, and Alma, 13, were taken hostage on that day and released during the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, on November 23, 2023.

Noam and Alma’s older brother, Yahli, was volunteering in a year of national service in the north, and wasn’t home on October 7.

Their cousin Liam Or, who lived in nearby Kibbutz Re’im, was visiting with the family that weekend and was taken captive as well. He was released on November 29, 2023.

After the release of Or’s body last Wednesday, Hamas is still holding the remains of two hostages: Ran Gvili and Sudthisak Rintalak.

Also attending the funeral were Gvili’s parents and sister, alongside hundreds of Be’eri members, including former hostage Eli Sharabi and Reuma Aroussi, whose 13-year-old daughter Gali Tarshansky was taken hostage on October 7 and whose teenage son Lior Tarshansky was killed by Hamas terrorists.

Kibbutz Be’eri, where Dror Or was raised, was among the hardest-hit Gaza border communities in Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Residents were left to fend for themselves for long hours, with the army — stunned by the shock attack on dozens of towns and in disarray — failing to come to their rescue as terrorists moved from home to home, kidnapping, brutalizing and massacring civilians well into the afternoon.

In all, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed in Be’eri — a community of around 1,000 residents — and a further 30 residents and two more civilians, including Rintalak, were taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists

Or’s mother: He and his wife were ‘people of freedom and light’

Or’s body was held for 782 days in Gaza. He was the 26th deceased hostage returned by Hamas since the October 9 ceasefire-hostage deal, which also saw Hamas release the last 20 living hostages on October 13, three days after Israel’s initial withdrawal to a line inside Gaza.

The funeral was closed to the press, with photos and some of the eulogies later released to the public. Musician Ehud Banai, a favorite of the Or family, played two songs during the ceremony.

Elad Or said in his eulogy that “he would never forget nor forgive the unbearably long time during which we had to beg for help and for rescue from the ongoing terror of your captivity.”

“It shouldn’t have been like that,” said Or, adding that Israel deserves better leadership to make sure that events like October 7 never recur.

Yuval Or, Dror Or’s father, said during his eulogy that the family’s struggle was not over.

“There is still a refusal to investigate the disaster of October 7 and what led to it,” said Yuval Or, referring to the government’s refusal to set up an independent, impartial state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the Hamas attack.

Or called for everyone to join the struggle to ensure a “democratic, solidarity- and peace-seeking Israel.”

Dror Or’s mother, Dorit Or, described her son’s early life, his love of basketball, and his travels — until he returned home and met Yonat when they both worked short stints at Be’eri’s printing press.

The couple moved to Tel Aviv, where Or went to culinary school, and moved in 2004 back to Be’eri, where their three children were born. Or soon joined Dagan Peleg in making cheeses and running the Be’eri Dairy.

Dorit Or called her son and daughter-in-law “people of freedom and light, of spirit and creativity, who knew how to dream and turn dreams into reality.”

Yonat Or had her own carpentry shop and home design business in Be’eri, called Ayuna, which had earned national accolades and made her a well-known name in the Israeli decorating world. A native of Be’eri, her father once ran the local carpentry shop, and she grew up amid the wood shavings, before joining the family trade.

During her eulogy for her son, Dorit Or said that when the terrorists entered the house and began setting it on fire, Dror and Yonat instructed the children to jump out the window, run, and stay together, saving their lives.

She said that her son and daughter-in-law were parents with “immense love and endless patience,” calmly counting to 30 before reacting, rather than the usual 3 cited by most parents.

Or’s mother and siblings noted how much he loved practicing yoga as an adult, bringing a quiet and yogic calm to his life.

Elad Or told his family that they will continue to live and to miss their father, son, and brother, and do everything they can to live life as much as possible.

“We have each other,” said Or.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.