Hamas announced on Thursday that it had delivered the remains of four Israeli hostages, including the two children and the mother of the Bibas family, who were taken during the October 7, 2023, attack. The family, of Argentine origin, had become a symbol of the terror inflicted by the Palestinian Islamist group.
“Our hearts, the hearts of the entire nation, are destroyed,” said Israeli President Isaac Herzog, expressing his deep sorrow. “On behalf of the state of Israel, I ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not having protected them on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not having brought them home alive.”
The remains were handed over to the International Red Cross Committee in Jan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and then transferred to the Israeli army. The convoy carrying the bodies entered Israel through the Kissufim Kibutz, where dozens of people gathered, waving Israeli and yellow flags – a color that symbolizes hostages – and braving the rain and wind.
According to the Israeli army, the bodies will be taken to the Forensic Institute of Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv, where they will be identified. Before the handover, hooded and armed Hamas militants displayed the four black coffins with images of each of the hostages in Jan Yunis. Behind them, a huge banner featuring an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, portrayed as a bloodthirsty vampire, was visible.
Hamas indicated that the remains belong to Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were 4 years and 8 months old, respectively, at the time of their kidnapping, as well as their mother, Shiri Bibas, 32, and Oded Lifshitz, 83. The exchange was part of a truce agreement that has been in effect since January 19, which ended 15 months of devastating war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israeli soil.
Await Identification
The Israeli hostage family forum announced on Wednesday night that it had received the “heartbreaking” news of the death of the two Bibas children, their mother, and Oded Lifshitz, without specifying the circumstances. However, the relatives of the Bibas family stated that they would wait for official confirmation of the death.
In November 2023, Hamas announced that Shiri Bibas and her children had died in an Israeli bombing at the beginning of the war, but Israel never confirmed this information. The family was kidnapped at the Kibutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, and during their captivity in Gaza, they were separated from Yarden Bibas, the father, who was released on February 1.
The images of the mother and her two children, taken by force, had a profound impact on the world. Kfir Bibas was the youngest of the 251 hostages kidnapped on October 7. Before the exchange, 70 people were still being held in Gaza, with at least 35 believed to be dead, according to the Israeli army.
Since the ceasefire began, as part of an agreement negotiated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for over 1,100 Palestinian prisoners. This Thursday’s delivery is the first transfer of hostage remains kidnapped by Hamas since its attack on October 7.
In the first phase of the agreement, which will last until March 1, 33 hostages, including the remains of eight who died, are expected to be handed over in exchange for the release of 1,900 Palestinians arrested by Israel. Hamas has stated that it is willing to release all hostages held in the Gaza Strip “at once” during the second phase of the truce, which is set to begin on March 2.
The indirect negotiations for the second phase, which should bring an end to the war, have been delayed, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the ceasefire. The third stage of the agreement will focus on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to official figures. The subsequent Israeli offensive claimed the lives of at least 48,297 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, based on figures from the Ministry of Health, which the UN considers reliable.