Hamas hands over bodies of four Israeli hostages
They include the bodies of Shiri Bibas, who was aged 32 when she and her sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months, were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel by Hamas-led militants more than 16 months ago.
The two boys have become the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks, and the first return of hostage bodies marks a hugely emotional and somber moment for Israel.
The fourth body is that of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 years old when he and his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yocheved was released by Hamas on October 24, 2023.
Ahead of the handover, Hamas militants placed four black caskets on a stage in the southern city of Khan Younis, behind which was a propaganda backdrop with slogans in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
The bodies will be taken to the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for forensic examination.
After the handover, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said hearts across the country “lie in tatters,” and asked for forgiveness on behalf of the government for failing to protect those captured on October 7.
“Agony. Pain. There are no words,” he wrote in a post on X
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that the Bibas children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but did not produce any evidence. Israel has never confirmed their deaths.
The children’s father, Yarden Bibas, was released by Hamas earlier this month after 484 days of captivity. He was one of the 19 Israeli hostages freed alive under the January 2025 ceasefire deal.
The Israeli military had previously retrieved the bodies of multiple hostages in Gaza.
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