Israel Claims One of the Bodies Returned by Hamas Does Not Belong to Any Hostage

Israel accused the Palestinian movement Hamas on Friday of having murdered the children Ariel and Kfir Bibas during their captivity in Gaza and of delivering the body of an unknown person instead of their mother Shiri, who was of Argentine origin.

As part of the Gaza truce agreement, Hamas handed over four bodies yesterday, which the Islamist movement claimed belonged to the three members of the Bibas family and retired Israeli journalist Oded Lifshitz.

Shiri and her children Ariel and Kfir, who were four years and eight months old when abducted on October 7, 2023, had become symbols of the hostages taken by Hamas. Their father, also kidnapped, was released on February 1.

The Palestinian Islamist movement had claimed that the woman and the two children died during an Israeli bombing in Gaza in November 2023, but Israel had not confirmed it, and their relatives clung to the hope that they were still alive.

Hours after the handover, an Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, stated that the analysis of the bodies and available information indicates that "Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered in captivity in November 2023 by Palestinian terrorists."

In his statement, the spokesperson also denounced that "the additional body is not that of their mother, Shiri, nor of any other Israeli hostage." It is an "unidentified" body, Adraee asserted, accusing Hamas of a "flagrant violation" of the Gaza truce agreement. "We call on Hamas to return Shiri Bibas, as well as all kidnapped individuals," he insisted.

Since its implementation on January 19, the Gaza truce agreement halted more than 15 months of devastating fighting and allowed the release of 19 Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

The last exchange was shrouded in controversy due to the ceremony prepared by Hamas on Thursday in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, to hand over the four bodies to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Militants of the Islamist movement in power in the Strip displayed the four coffins on a stage under an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, depicted as a bloodthirsty vampire.

Each coffin bore a photo of the deceased. And near them, small replicas of white missiles with the message "killed by American bombs."

"We are all enraged against the monsters of Hamas," Netanyahu responded. "We will bring back all our hostages, destroy the murderers, eliminate Hamas, and together, with God's help, ensure our future," he added.

"The parade of bodies we saw this morning is abominable and cruel, and goes against international law," denounced the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The ICRC, in turn, insisted that the return of hostages held in Gaza must "be conducted privately."

After the bodies were handed over to Israel, before the army's statement on Shiri Bibas, thousands of people observed a minute of silence in Tel Aviv, reported an AFP journalist. "It is one of the hardest days since October 7," said Tania Coen Uzzielli among a hundred people in Tel Aviv.

"Our hearts, the hearts of the entire nation, are shattered," declared Israeli President Isaac Herzog. "Sorry for not protecting them on that terrible day. Sorry for not bringing them home alive."

The Hebrew state was shaken on the same day by several explosions on buses in the city of Bat Yam, in the centre of its territory, which the police are investigating as a "possible terrorist attack."

The action, which left no injuries, led Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz to order "intensification" of military operations in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 where violence has escalated since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

The conflict began with the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas, whose militants kidnapped 251 people. Baby Kfir Bibas was the youngest of all. Before Thursday's exchange, 70 people remained held in Gaza, of whom at least 35 were believed to be dead, according to the Israeli army.

In this first phase of the agreement, which will last until March 1, 33 hostages - including the remains of eight deceased - are to be handed over in exchange for 1,900 Palestinians detained by Israel.

Indirect negotiations for the second phase, which should end the war, were delayed, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the ceasefire.

The third stage of the agreement will cover reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, according to the agreement forged by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.

The Hamas attack resulted in the death of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's Health Ministry, which the UN considers reliable.