Hamas militants have delivered four coffins suspected to hold the remains of deceased Israeli hostages – among them Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who became emblematic of Israel’s pain following the October 7 terrorist incident.
The youngest captive taken on that fateful day was nine-month-old baby Kfir. He was abducted by Palestinian extremists together with his mother Shiri and his then-four-year-old sibling Ariel.
Shiri’s spouse, Yarden Bibas, was abducted separately and recently freed after spending 16 months in captivity. During his captivity, Hamas informed him that his wife and children had perished.
Hamas has said that all three were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war, but did not provide evidence. Their deaths were confirmed by The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel last night but have not been officially confirmed by Israel.
The body of Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist who was aged 83 when he and his wife were taken from their home in Nir Oz, is also believed to be among those released.
‘The heart of an entire nation breaks,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night. The families have now been informed that four bodies have been received, Netanyahu’s office confirmed today, adding: ‘Our hearts go out to them at this difficult time.’
Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed fighters from Hamas and other factions, gathered at the handover site on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
A disturbing propaganda display was set up next to the four black coffins – with mock munitions labelled ‘They were killed by USA bombs’ and a poster depicting Netanyahu as a vampire – all part of Hamas’ message that Israel was to blame for their deaths.
Red Cross vehicles arrived at the scene, with Hamas fighters then carrying the coffins over to staffers in red vests, who covered them in white sheets before placing them inside.
The Red Cross convoy headed back to Israel, where authorities will carry out the formal identification of the remains using DNA, expected to take up to two days. Only then will the families be given the final notification.
The Israeli Defence Forces confirmed that the Red Cross had notified them that the bodies of four hostages were handed over by Hamas.
The Red Cross is now bringing them to IDF and Shin Bet forces inside Gaza, where a brief military ceremony will be held, before they are taken back to Israel.
Netanyahu said in a brief video statement that Thursday would be ‘a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief.’
In Tel Aviv, scores of Israeli flags were raised as a few people joined together in a sombre gathering to mourn the hostages ahead of their return to Israel.
Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a shaky ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war.
But the handover on Thursday will provide a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.
It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.
Kfir Bibas was just nine months old, a red-headed infant with a toothless smile, when terrorists stormed into the family’s home on October 7, 2023.
His brother Ariel was four. Video shot that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the two boys as terrorists led them into Gaza.
Relatives in Israel have clung to hope, marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays and his brother’s fifth.
The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it would wait for ‘identification procedures’ before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.
Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the family – a reference to two boys’ red hair – and a popular children’s song was written in their honor.
Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.
Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 hostages, including some 30 children, in the October 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.
Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 hostages, including some 30 children, in the October 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Shiri Bibas, 32, appears distraught as she clutches both of her young sons during their abduction by Hamas on October 7, 2023
Footage shows kidnapping of Bibas family from Kibbutz Nir Oz
More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.
Hamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week, completing the ceasefire’s first phase.
That will leave the terrorists with some 60 hostages, all men, around half of whom are believed to be dead.
Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he is committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
Trump’s proposal to remove some two million Palestinians from Gaza so the US can own and rebuild it, which has been embraced by Israel but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.
Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes the war will resume with the goal of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gaza’s population.
Israel’s military offensive killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to fields of rubble and bombed-out buildings.
At its height, the war displaced 90 per cent of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
