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Hamas has returned the bodies of four hostages, including the two youngest captives seized in its 7 October attack on Israel.
The Palestinian militants said the bodies of infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, along with their mother Shiri Bibas, were handed over on Thursday under the ceasefire agreement reached last month.
The fourth body was confirmed to be that of journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he and his wife Yocheved were taken captive by Hamas during the militants’ cross-border incursion, which sparked the war in Gaza 16 months ago.
Kfir was just nine months old when the Bibas family, including their father Yarden – who was returned to Israel in a hostage exchange earlier this month – was abducted at the kibbutz at Nir Oz, near the Gaza border.
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that the family had been killed by Israeli airstrikes. But their deaths have never been confirmed by the Israeli authorities, and Israel is not expected to confirm their identities until full DNA checks have been completed.
Following Yarden’s release earlier this month, the family had warned that their “journey is not over” until they receive final confirmation of what happened to the boys and their mother – a plight which has gripped many across Israel in a national outpouring of grief.
“Shiri and the kids became a symbol,” said Yiftach Cohen, a resident of Nir Oz, a kibbutz co-founded by Oded Lifshitz. Around a quarter of whose inhabitants were either killed or kidnapped on 7 October 2023.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the Lifshitz family said it was with deep sorrow that they had received the “bitter news confirming the identification of our beloved Oded’s body” after “503 agonising days of uncertainty”. They added: “Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”
Thursday’s handover marked the first return of dead bodies during the current agreement, brokered with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
Hundreds of people gathered ahead of the bodies being released, as armed militants in black and camouflage uniforms toured the area ahead of their handover to the Red Cross.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog said: “Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts – the hearts of an entire nation – lie in tatters”, while prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was “united in unbearable grief”.
The handover is due to be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinians, expected to be women and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza during the war.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first phase of an agreement intended to open the way towards ending the war in Gaza.
So far, 19 Israeli hostages have been released, as well as five Thai nationals also returned in an unscheduled handover.
Negotiations for a second phase, expected to cover the return of around 60 remaining hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive – and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza – are expected to begin in the coming days.
In the handover on Thursday, Hamas militants displayed four black coffins on a stage surrounded by banners, including a large one depicting Mr Netanyahu as a vampire.
The fighters then carried the coffins over to Red Cross vehicles, where they were covered in white sheets and placed inside. The convoy headed back to Israel, where formal identification will take place, in a process expected to take up to two days.
Israeli channels did not broadcast the handover on Thursday, amid concerns that such events are being used as a propaganda exercise by Hamas.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk called the parading of bodies in Gaza abhorrent and cruel, and said it flew in the face of international law on the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
In Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, a large screen showed a compilation of photos and videos of Lifshitz and the Bibas family, including a chuckling baby Kfir and the family dressed up in Batman costumes.
The Bibas family said on Wednesday that it would wait for identification procedures to be completed before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.
The family has become a potent symbol of Israel’s grief, with supporters throughout the country having worn orange in solidarity – in a reference to the two boys’ red hair – and a popular children’s song having been written in their honour.
Israelis lined the road in the rain near the Gaza border to pay their respects as the convoy carrying the coffins drove by. “We stand here together, with a broken heart, the sky is also crying with us and we pray to see better days,” said one woman, who gave her name only as Efrat.
Dozens of residents of Nir Oz gathered to wave Israeli flags outside of their temporary home an hour north of the kibbutz which Lifshitz had co-founded.
His wife Yocheved was among those freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. As she was released to Red Cross officials, Ms Lifshitz was seen reaching back to shake the hand of one of the Palestinian militants as she said “Shalom”, a greeting in Hebrew meaning peace.
In their statement, the Lifshitz family said on Thursday: “We received with deep sorrow the official and bitter news confirming the identification of our beloved Oded’s body. 503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end. We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome.
“Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7. Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”
Dr Sharone Lifschitz, his British-based daughter, said she had received no information on his whereabouts since the Hamas attack.
Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday evening that he was “deeply saddened” to hear of Mr Lifschitz’s death.
The UK prime minister added: “We must see all remaining hostages released, and the ceasefire upheld. My government remains committed to working with our international partners to bring an end to this suffering and secure a long-term peace in the Middle East.”
Additional reporting by agencies
Source: independent.co.uk
