PA MediaIsrael has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal after forensic testing revealed the physique returned from Gaza on Thursday was not that of Shiri Bibas.
The three different our bodies handed over have been recognized as her sons, Ariel and Kfir, who would have been aged 5 and two, and Oded Lifshitz, the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) mentioned.
However the fourth physique was not Shiri Bibas nor every other hostage, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleging on Friday that Hamas “put the physique of a Gazan lady in a coffin”.
Hamas has not but commented on Israel’s declare. Israel demanded the return of her physique together with the opposite remaining hostages.
“We are going to act with dedication to deliver Shiri residence together with all our hostages – each residing and lifeless – and be sure that Hamas pays the complete worth for this merciless and evil violation of the settlement,” Netanyahu mentioned.
The IDF posted on X that “throughout the identification course of, it was decided that the extra physique acquired isn’t that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was discovered for every other hostage. That is an nameless, unidentified physique.”
“This can be a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organisation, which is obligated below the settlement to return 4 deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri residence together with all our hostages.”
The IDF mentioned that the 2 kids “had been brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023”, in accordance with intelligence and forensic findings. Hamas had mentioned the boys and their mom had been killed in an Israeli bombing.
The Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board mentioned it was “horrified and devastated by the information that their mom, Shiri, was not returned—regardless of the settlement and our determined hopes”.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas had been aged 32, 4 and 9 months once they had been kidnapped throughout the Hamas assaults on Israel on 7 October 2023. They’ve turn into an emblem for a lot of in Israel and information of their deaths was met with an outpouring of grief.
The kids’s father Yarden Bibas, 34, was launched by Hamas on 1 February.
Israel has confirmed that the fourth physique returned on Thursday was that of veteran peace activist, Oded Lifshitz.
The discharge of hostages’ our bodies was agreed as a part of the ceasefire deal which got here into impact on 19 January, and Israel has confirmed it expects eight our bodies will probably be handed over.
The 2 sides agreed to trade 33 hostages for about 1,900 prisoners by the tip of the primary six weeks of the ceasefire.
Talks on progressing to the following section of the deal – below which the remaining residing hostages can be launched and the conflict would finish completely – had been attributable to begin earlier this month however haven’t but begun.
Twenty-eight hostages and greater than 1,000 prisoners have thus far been exchanged.
Sixty-six hostages taken on 7 October are nonetheless being held in Gaza. Three different hostages, taken greater than a decade in the past, are additionally being held. About half of all of the hostages nonetheless in Gaza are believed to be alive.
About 1,200 folks – principally civilians – had been killed within the Hamas assaults on 7 October 2023 and 251 others taken again to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched an enormous navy marketing campaign towards Hamas in response, which has killed at the very least 48,297 Palestinians – primarily civilians – in accordance with the Hamas-run well being ministry.
Additionally on Thursday, three buses exploded in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, in what Israeli police mentioned is a suspected terror assault.
Gadgets in two different buses did not explode, they mentioned, including that “giant police forces are on the scenes, looking for suspects”. No casualties have been reported.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace introduced he had ordered the IDF to hold out an “intensive operation towards facilities of terrorism” within the West Financial institution.
