Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages Thursday, parading four black caskets on a stage against a backdrop of propaganda slogans and behind white missiles spattered with red paint bearing the phrase "they were killed by USA bombs."
In what is likely to be one of the defining images of the war in the Gaza Strip, the four caskets sat on a raised platform in front of smiling illustrations of three members of the Bibas family and 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz.
Among the bodies believed to be handed over by Hamas were those of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the two youngest captives seized in the attack that triggered Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
The bodies of the two children were later confirmed to be those of Kfir and Ariel Bibas — but the body that was believed to be that of their mother, Shiri, was not in fact her, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Yarden and Shiri Bibas with Ariel and Kfir.
"This is a very serious violation by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is required by the agreement to return four dead abductees," the IDF said. "We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all of our abductees."
The bodies handed over were the first to be returned under the current ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Lifshitz's family said Thursday that his body had been identified.
Each casket also carried a small photograph of one of the four hostages.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of those in Hamas captivity, had earlier said that the body of Shiri Bibas was handed over, along with the bodies of her two children and that of Lifshitz.
The IDF said that Ariel and Kfir Bibas "were brutally murdered in captivity in November 2023, by terrorists." Ariel was 4 years old at the time and Kfir was 10 months old, the IDF said.
The IDF said that the identification process determined the other body was not Shiri Bibas, and "no match was found for any other abductee. It is an anonymous body without identification.
The handover took place in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where large crowds gathered and armed Hamas militants in black and camouflage uniforms patrolled the area. The caskets were displayed in front of a large banner that showed a caricature replicating antisemitic tropes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with vampiric teeth and blood running down his face.
Netanyahu reacted to the release of the deceased hostages in a post on X later Thursday, saying that "we bow our heads for the heavy loss of our four hostages."
"We are all in pain, a pain that is mixed with rage," he said, adding that he planned to return the remaining hostages, "destroy the murderers and eliminate Hamas."
After representatives from Hamas and the Red Cross signed paperwork on a table with a camouflage cover and two Palestinian flags, the caskets were carried into white Red Cross vehicles that then drove them away to be transferred to the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency.
The children's father, Yarden Bibas, 35, was released Feb. 1 under the first phase of the ceasefire deal. He had been held in a different part of Gaza from his wife and children, according to hostages who were with him in captivity and have since been freed.
While all other child hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a one-week ceasefire in November 2023, the Bibas family never emerged from Gaza.
On one of the final days of the brief pause in fighting, Hamas released a statement claiming that Shiri Bibas and the children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, although Israel’s military said the claim could not be confirmed before later acknowledging its fears for the family.
The Hamas leader in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, announced Tuesday that the bodies of Shiri Bibas and the two children would be among those returned this week.
He also announced that four of the remaining living captives would be released Saturday, in addition to two others who have been held in the Gaza Strip for about a decade.
The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed it had reached an agreement on the releases during negotiations held in Cairo last week, but refrained from naming any of the hostages.
Israel had long braced to learn the fate of Kfir Bibas, who was just shy of nine-months-old when he was abducted along with his parents and brother, Ariel, who was 4 at the time, from their kibbutz, Nir Oz.
In late 2023, Hamas said that Shiri Bibas and the children had been killed by Israeli bombardments. Israel has yet to confirm their deaths.
On Tuesday, the Bibas family said it was “in turmoil” over the Hamas leader’s announcement of the return of Shiri Bibas and the children.
“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family said in a statement.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum also named the six living hostages slated for release Saturday: Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Tal Shoham, Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu.
“While we feel profound relief at their homecoming, we are devastated by the news that the remains of four of our loved ones will be returned this Thursday,” it said in a statement Tuesday.
Cohen, 27, Shem Tov, 22, and Wenkert, 23, were abducted from the Nova music festival, where an estimated 364 people were killed. Shoham, 40, was taken from the community of kibbutz Beeri, according to the group.
Civilians Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been separately held in Gaza for about a decade after they were kidnapped while crossing the border in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
About 1,200 people were killed and 251 were captured in the Oct. 7 terror attack, according to Israeli officials. Israel's ensuing military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the local Hamas-run Health Ministry, and forcibly displaced most of its 2.3 million population.
Saturday’s handover, if successful, will mean that four hostages, all presumed dead, are still left in Gaza from the group of 33 scheduled for release under the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Negotiations over the second stage of the ceasefire deal, originally slated to begin Feb. 4, will work to secure the release of the remaining 64 hostages and oversee the administration of post-war Gaza. Talks are expected to get underway in the coming days.
This article first appeared on chof360.com. Read more from NBC News here:
