Hamas hands over bodies of four hostages to Israel
Hamas have released the bodies of four hostages to Israel in the latest handover agreed within the ceasefire deal.
Reported by Asharq Al-Awsat on February 20th, the bodies of Israeli nine month-old Kfir Bibas, his four-year old brother Ariel, his mother Shiri Bibas, along with a fourth hostage named Oded Lifschitz, were retrieved by the Red Cross in black coffins.
The coffins had been placed on a stage, each with a small picture of the hostage whilst a large poster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a fanged vampire was hung up.
Kfir Bibas and his brother Ariel were the two youngest captives taken in the October 7th attack in 2023 which saw Hamas, a Palestinian military group, infiltrate Jewish kibbutz (settlements). The attack is believed to have killed over 1,200 people and saw the kidnapping of Jewish civilians who were then held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The brothers became a symbol within Israel for the hostages, with Netanyahu stating their deaths have been “a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief.”
The father of the two boys and husband of Shiri Bibas was also abducted on October 7th but was released alive earlier this month.
Hamas said in November 2023 that the boys and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike but their deaths were never confirmed, with formal identification of the bodies expected to take place over the coming days.
Above their coffins read, “The War Criminal Netanyahu and His Nazi Army Killed Them with Missiles from Zionist Warplanes.”
The handover marks the first return of dead bodies during the current agreement of hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel since the ceasefire was agreed upon.
It was reported on February 19th by Maghrebi, the day before the release of the bodies, that Hamas had proposed the release of all hostages in the second stage of the ceasefire, should Israel agree to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
However, as of February 17th, Israel’s security cabinet is yet to agree on a decision regarding the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal.
Asharq Al-Awsat, Maghrebi
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