Hamas says hands over bodies of Israel’s Bibas family, elderly hostage

Militants on Thursday handed over the bodies of four hostages taken into Gaza during their October 2023 attack, with Hamas saying they include the Bibas family — symbols of Israel’s ordeal since the Gaza war began.

This is the first release of dead hostages under a fragile ceasefire, with only living hostages having been exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons before.

The ceremony to return the bodies of Shiri Bibas, her two young red-headed boys —- Kfir and Ariel -— and a fourth captive, Oded Lifshitz, 83 at the time of his capture, took place at a former cemetery in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

Israel has “received the caskets of four fallen hostages”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

“Our hearts — the hearts of the entire nation — lie in tatters,” President Isaac Herzog said in a statement after the handover. He asked “forgiveness for not protecting you”.

Flag-waving Israelis stood beside the road as a brisk wind blew near Kissufim, southern Israel, waiting for the vehicles to pass following the transfer via the Red Cross.

ALSO READ: ‘He saved our lives’: Fears for brave Nepali student seized in Hamas attack on Israel

The convoy then moved onto a highway for the drive to Tel Aviv, where a crowd gathered at “Hostages Square” and lined roads elsewhere in the city to greet it.

Among those waiting was museum manager Tania Coen Uzzielli, 59.

“This is one of the hardest days, I think, since October 7th,” she said, adding that “maybe we didn’t do enough to prevent this tragedy.”

Israel’s military said the bodies would “undergo an identification procedure” at the national forensic medicine institute, where onlookers wept as the convoy arrived early in the afternoon.

Ahead of the handover, Hamas and members of other armed Palestinian groups displayed four black coffins on a stage erected on the sandy patch of ground. A banner behind them depicted Netanyahu as a blood-stained vampire.

Each casket bore a small photo of the deceased. White mock-up missiles nearby carried the message: “They were killed by USA bombs,” a reference to Israel’s top military supplier.

ALSO READ: Netanyahu says Israel to open ‘gates of hell’ in Gaza if all hostages not returned

The youngest hostage

As a cold drizzle fell, a militant with his face wrapped in a red and white keffiyeh scarf sat on the stage to complete documents with a Red Cross official.

The coffins were loaded into Red Cross vehicles.

Tahani Fayad, 40, was among the hundreds of people gathered to witness the ceremony which he called “a confirmation of the victory of the Palestinian people and proof that the occupation will not defeat us”.

Buildings bombed during more than 15 months of war surrounded the site.

Armed men in military fatigues and wearing Hamas headbands were ubiquitous, standing near the stage for the ceremony — carefully choreographed as in previous hostage transfers.

During their October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war, Hamas filmed and later broadcast footage showing the Bibas family’s abduction from their home near the Gaza border.

ALSO READ: Hamas, Israel complete sixth hostage-prisoner swap under Gaza truce

Ariel was then aged four. Kfir was the youngest hostage at just nine months old.

Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately and released in a previous hostage-prisoner swap on February 1.

The bodies’ repatriation is part of the six-week initial phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on January 19.

Under the first phase, militants have so far freed 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

Of the remaining 14 Gaza hostages eligible for release under phase one, Israel says eight are dead.

Under strain

Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed the Bibas family early in the war but Israel has never confirmed the claim.

ALSO READ: Israel confirms names of three hostages set for release on Saturday

Hamas and its armed wing “did everything in their power to protect the prisoners (hostages) and preserve their lives, but the barbaric and continuous bombing by the occupation prevented them from being able to save all the prisoners,” the militants said in a statement.

Israel and Hamas announced a deal earlier this week for the return of eight hostages’ remains in two groups this week and next, as well as the release of the six living Israeli captives on Saturday.

The ceasefire in Gaza has held despite accusations of violations on both sides.

It has also been under strain from US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned idea to take control of rubble-strewn Gaza and relocate its population of more than two million Palestinians.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said talks will begin this week on the truce’s second phase, laying out a more permanent end to the war.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP on Wednesday that Hamas was ready to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during phase two.

ALSO READ: Gaza ceasefire at risk as Hamas rejects Trump’s ultimatum

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during their attack. Prior to Thursday’s handover, there were 70 hostages in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

– By: © Agence France-Presse