Hamas Is Handing Over The First Bodies Of Israeli Hostages Held In Gaza
Hamas will hand over to Israel the bodies of four hostages who have been held in Gaza since being captured alive during an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
They allegedly included a mother and two children from the Bibas family, whose unknown fate has haunted Israel ever since. The youngest child, Kafir, is nine months old.
Hamas said the fourth body was that of 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz, a veteran peace activist.
It will be the first time the group has handed over dead hostages since the ceasefire began last month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "the heart of the entire country is torn apart," adding that Israel was dealing with a "monster."
The six hostages are due to be released on Saturday
.The death of Shiri Bibas, 33, and her two sons, now five and two, has not been confirmed by the Israeli government, but has sparked nationwide outrage. The government said the names of the dead would be confirmed only after a forensic examination.
The Israel Bibas family said in a statement they were "in chaos", adding that "our journey is not over until we receive clear confirmation".
It is not yet clear how the four bodies will be handed over, but the Red Cross has received hostages released alive by Hamas and called for a dignified handover.
"We must be clear: any degrading treatment during release operations is unacceptable," the group said in a statement late Wednesday.
The move comes after Hamas was widely condemned for the way it released hostages at events it staged in recent weeks, where hostages were placed on platforms in front of an audience and handed over to Red Cross representatives.
It is not clear how Shiri, Kfir and his brother Ariel (if confirmed) died. Hamas claimed in November 2023 that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but provided no evidence. At the time, Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's wartime cabinet, said the claim had not been confirmed.
The family and father Aden were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz when hundreds of Hamas gunmen crossed the Israeli border and attacked communities, security force locations and music festivals.
Some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — were killed in the attack and 251 others were returned to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas in response, killing at least 48,297 Palestinians — mostly civilians — according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Yarden Bibas, 35, was released on February 1 along with two other hostages as part of a swap for 183 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist from Nir Oz, was also taken along with his wife, Yocheved. The 85-year-old was released by Hamas two weeks later.
Oded Lifshitz had been held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group since October 7, 2023.
The bodies of the hostages were agreed to be released as part of a ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19. Israel has confirmed that there will be eight.
The two sides agreed to exchange 33 hostages for about 1,900 prisoners by the end of the first six weeks of the ceasefire.
Talks on progressing to the next stage of the deal — under which the remaining living hostages would be released and the war would end for good — were due to begin earlier this month but have yet to begin.
So far, 24 hostages and more than 1,000 prisoners have been exchanged.
Seventy hostages captured on October 7 remain in Gaza. Three others, captured more than a decade ago, are still being held. About half of the hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
