Hamas returns 4 bodies, including 2 young children, but their mother is not hijacked, Israel says

Khan Younis in Gaza Strip – Hamas released four bodies on Thursday, Israeli officials said, including two children who have long been feared for death Hamas attacks Israel on October 7, 2023. Their mother was said to have returned with them, but Israeli troops said a few hours later that another person's remains were released.

It is said that the body is Shiri Bibas and her two childrenAriel and Kfir and Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 years old when he was kidnapped. Kfir was nine months old when he was taken away and was the youngest of all prisoners. Hamas said all four people were killed in Israeli air strikes.

In a social media post on Friday morning, the IDF said the remains of Ariel and Kefire were returned but did not return to their mother. “During the identification process, it was determined that the additional agency received was not Shiri Bibas, and no match for any other hostages was found. This is an anonymous, unidentified agency,” the IDF said.

Militants showcase four black coffins on the stage surrounded by banners, including one large coffin, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire as the Red Cross arrives in Gaza Site scene.

The warrior then transported the coffin to the Red Cross vehicle, where the staff wearing red vests covered them with white sheets and placed them inside. Each coffin has a picture fixed in front, with the image of a murdered hostage, allegedly inside.

The Red Cross Guard returned to Israel and authorities conducted a formal identity verification process on the remains using DNA, which is expected to take two days. However, a statement from the Fierhiz family shared by the Human Family Forum said that they “deeply saddened official and painful news confirms the identification of our beloved ODED corpse.”

“We have always hoped and prayed for different outcomes. Now we can mourn our husbands, fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers who have been missing from us since October 7.” From now on until the last hostage is returned It ends only after that. ”

Thousands of people, including numerous masked and armed fighters from Hamas and other factions, gathered at the handover site in the suburb of Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza.

“Today, every house in Israel is looking up. We bow our heads for the significant losses of the four hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “The four coffins of our loved ones are more than ever before.” Times are even more committed and swear that what happened on October 7 will never happen again.”

Israel Channel has not played the handover. At the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israelis gathered there to watch the release of the live hostages, and the large screen shows a compilation of photos and videos of the Lifshitz and Bibas families, including a smiling baby KFIR and a family in Batman costume. Child father Yarden Bibas was not with his family on October 7, but was taken away separately. He is Released earlier this month After 16 months of imprisonment.

Dozens of Kibbutz Nir Oz residents have been kidnapped by four murdered hostages, gathered outside their temporary houses, waving Israeli flags, away from the ragged Kibbutz ) One hour north of.

Israelis celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks A fragile ceasefire It stopped within 15 months of the war. But Thursday’s handover will put those in captivity in trouble as conversations that led to a truce delayed for more than a year.

It can also have little impetus for negotiations in the second phase of the ceasefire. The first phase will end in early March.

Kfir Bibas is only 9 months old, a toothless red-headed baby, and militants rushed into their family’s home on October 7, 2023. The militants brought them to Gaza.

Israel's relatives held on to hope, marking Kefir's first and second birthdays and his brother's fifth place. The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it will wait for a “identity procedure” before admitting that its loved ones have died.

Supporters across Israel united with their families (referring to the red hair of two boys) and wrote a popular children's song in their honor.

Like the Bibas family, ODED LIFSHITZ was kidnapped with Kibbutz Nir Oz, whose wife Yocheved was released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023. ODED is a journalist who runs for recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.

In the terrorist attack on October 7, militants led by Hamas kidnapped 251 hostages, including about 30 children, and about 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians.

More than half of the hostages, as well as most women and children, have been released in a ceasefire agreement or other transactions. Israeli troops have rescued eight people and recovered dozens of people who were killed or imprisoned in the first attack.

Hamas will release six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and said four bodies will be released next week to complete the first phase of the ceasefire. This would leave the militants with about 60 hostages, all of whom, about half considered dead.

Hamas said that without a lasting ceasefire and the evacuation of all Israel, the remaining prisoners would not be released. Netanyahu, with full support from the Trump administration, said he was committed to destroying Hamas' military and management capabilities and returning to all hostages, with the goal widely regarded as mutually exclusive.

Mr. Trump's proposal to evacuate about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so that the United States can own and rebuild it, while Netanyahu was welcomed but was generally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, which made The ceasefire is placed in further doubt.

Hamas may be reluctant to release more hostages if he believes the war will resume to annihilate the group or forcefully transfer the Gaza population.

According to Gaza's Hamas-Operation Health Ministry, Israel's military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, and the ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records. Israel said it has killed more than 17,000 fighter jets, but provided no evidence.

The offensive destroyed a vast area of ​​Gaza, reducing the entire community to fields of rubble and blown up buildings. At its peak, war accounted for 90% of Gaza's population. Many people return home and find what’s left and have not rebuilt.