KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Hamas on Thursday launched the our bodies of 4 Israeli hostages, mentioned to incorporate a mom and her two kids who’ve lengthy been feared useless and had come to embody the nation’s agony following the Oct. 7, 2023, assault.
The stays had been mentioned to be of Shiri Bibas and her two kids, Ariel and Kfir, in addition to Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was kidnapped. Kfir, who was 9 months previous when he was taken, was the youngest captive. Hamas has mentioned all 4 had been killed together with their guards in Israeli airstrikes.
“Our hearts — the hearts of a complete nation — lie in tatters,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog mentioned in a press release. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and say sorry. Forgiveness for not defending you on that horrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you house safely.”
The militants displayed 4 black coffins on a stage within the Gaza Strip surrounded by banners, together with a big one depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. Hundreds of individuals, together with giant numbers of masked and armed militants, appeared on because the coffins had been loaded onto Crimson Cross automobiles earlier than being pushed to Israeli forces.
The navy held a small funeral ceremony, on the request of the households, earlier than transferring the our bodies to a laboratory in Israel for formal identification utilizing DNA, a course of that would take as much as two days. Solely then will the households be given the ultimate notification.
Israeli channels didn’t broadcast the handover. In Hostage Sq. in Tel Aviv, the place Israelis have gathered to look at the discharge of residing hostages, a big display confirmed a compilation of pictures and movies of Lifshitz and the Bibas household, together with a chuckling child Kfir and the household dressed up in Batman costumes.
Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 residing hostages in latest weeks underneath a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of battle. However the handover on Thursday was a grim reminder of those that died in captivity because the talks main as much as the truce dragged on for over a 12 months.
It might additionally present impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire which have hardly begun. The primary section is about to finish at the start of March.
Toddler was the youngest taken hostage
Kfir Bibas was simply 9 months previous, a red-headed toddler with a toothless smile, when militants stormed into the household’s house on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother Ariel was 4. Video shot that day confirmed a terrified Shiri swaddling the 2 boys as militants led them into Gaza.
Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken individually and launched this month after 16 months in captivity.
Family in Israel have clung to hope, marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays and his brother’s fifth. The Bibas household mentioned in a press release Wednesday that it could anticipate “identification procedures” earlier than acknowledging that their family members had been useless.
Supporters all through Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the household — a reference to 2 boys’ purple hair — and a preferred kids’s tune was written of their honor.
Just like the Bibas household, Oded Lifshitz was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, alongside along with his spouse Yocheved, who was freed throughout a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the popularity of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.
Hamas-led militants kidnapped 251 hostages, together with some 30 kids, within the Oct. 7 assault, through which in addition they killed some 1,200 folks, largely civilians.
Greater than half the hostages, and many of the ladies and kids, have been launched in ceasefire agreements or different offers. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of our bodies of individuals killed within the preliminary assault or who died in captivity.
It isn’t clear if the ceasefire will final
Hamas is about to free six residing hostages on Saturday in trade for a whole bunch of Palestinian prisoners, and says it should launch 4 extra our bodies subsequent week, finishing the ceasefire’s first section. That can depart the militants with some 60 hostages, all males, round half of whom are believed to be useless.
Hamas has mentioned it will not launch the remaining captives with no lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the complete backing of the Trump administration, says he’s dedicated to destroying Hamas’ navy and governing capacities and returning all of the hostages, objectives broadly seen as mutually unique.
Trump’s proposal to take away some 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can personal and rebuild it, which has been welcomed by Netanyahu however universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab international locations, has thrown the ceasefire into additional doubt.
Hamas could possibly be reluctant to free extra hostages if it believes the battle will resume with the aim of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gaza’s inhabitants.
Israel’s navy offensive killed over 48,000 Palestinians, largely ladies and kids, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its information. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, with out offering proof.
The offensive destroyed huge areas of Gaza, decreasing whole neighborhoods to fields of rubble and bombed-out buildings. At its peak, the battle displaced 90% of Gaza’s inhabitants. Many have returned to their houses to seek out nothing left and no approach of rebuilding.
—Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
