A funeral procession for a mother and her two young sons is being held Wednesday morning in Rishon Lezion, Israel, after their remains were turned over by Hamas last week.
The remains of Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir were handed over to Israeli authorities late last week as part of an ongoing hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas.
The funeral will be held near the family’s home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, at a private ceremony in Zohar, The Times of Israel reported. It will be closed to the public.
A poster shows Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP)
Hamas had initially handed over a Palestinian woman from Gaza on Thursday.
The terror group said it had “no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.” It said the dead hostages handed over on Thursday had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023 and that the bodies could have been misidentified due to bombardments in the area.
The Bibas family, from left: Yarden, Ariel, Shiri, and Kfir (Ofri Bibas Levy)
Before the handover of Shiri Bibas’ remains, Israeli authorities positively identified the remains of her two sons along with another hostage, Oded Lifshitz.
