Hamas on Thursday handed over the coffins containing the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including the Bibas family, who have become a symbol of the ordeal that has gripped Israel since the start of the Gaza war.
This is the first time Hamas has handed over a body since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. This is under a ceasefire agreement agreed between Hamas and the Israeli side on January 15 and implemented on January 19. In return, there will be an exchange of living Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
The ceremony to repatriate the bodies of Shiri Bibas and Oded Lifshitz, along with their two sons Kefir and Ariel, took place from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Before the handover, Hamas displayed four black coffins on a platform built on sandy ground.
Each ‘casket’ contains a small photo of the deceased, and a white fake missile placed next to the coffin reads “killed by American bombs.” The Israeli military said the “bodies of the hostages” had been handed over to it and the Shin Bet internal security agency in Gaza.
A video broadcast by Hamas of the Bibas family’s kidnapping showed the mother and her sons, four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kefir, being seized from their home near the Gaza border. The boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, were kidnapped separately on the same day and released in a hostage-taking exchange from the Gaza Strip on February 1.
‘Day of Mourning’
Their bodies were repatriated as part of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which was agreed on January 19 after more than 15 months of conflict in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the moment the hostage’s body was returned would be a very difficult day for Israel.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire, militants have so far handed over 19 Israeli hostages to Israel through the Red Cross in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners. Israel has said that eight of the remaining 14 Gaza hostages eligible for release under the first phase have died.
With the Hamas attack and hostage-taking, the Bibas family members became national symbols of extreme despair for Israel. Their deaths have been accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war, but Israel has never confirmed the claim and many, including the Bibas family, are not convinced.
The Israeli campaign group, The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said it was shocked by the news of the deaths of three members of the Bibas family. The Bibas family has said they will wait for confirmation. The Telangana-based National Forensic Medicine Institute has mobilized 10 doctors to expedite the identification process.
Israel and Hamas announced an agreement to return the remains of eight hostages held in two groups this week and next week, and to release the last six surviving Israeli prisoners on Saturday. The hostage forum identified the six as Elia Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu.
The ceasefire in Gaza has been holding despite accusations of violations by both sides. The region has also been under strain over US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned plan to take control of the rubble-strewn enclave and relocate more than two million Palestinians.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said that talks on the second phase of the ceasefire will begin this week.
