One of many 4 our bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is just not that of the hostage Shiri Bibas, Israel’s navy has stated, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of an already precarious ceasefire deal.
The Israeli navy confirmed within the early hours of Friday that two of the our bodies belonged to Bibas’s kids, Ariel and Kfir. Nevertheless, it added: “During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage.”
The event threatens to derail the delicate ceasefire settlement reached with US backing and with the assistance of Qatari and Egyptian mediators final month. Thursday’s launch marked the primary time the group has returned the stays of useless hostages.
A Hamas official advised Agence France-Presse on Friday that it was seemingly the physique of Bibas had been “mistakenly mixed” with others who have been killed and buried below the rubble in Gaza. The official, talking on situation of anonymity, added that the group was “investigating” the difficulty.
Israel’s military stated it had notified the household, together with Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the boys’ father, who was launched this month as a part of the truce deal. It added that intelligence and forensic findings confirmed that Bibas’s kids had been “murdered by terrorists”. Hamas has stated the boys and their mom have been killed in an Israeli bombing in November 2023.
Bibas and her kids turned a logo of the Hamas assault of seven October 2023 that ignited the struggle in Gaza. The identification of the fourth hostage’s physique, that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, was confirmed by forensic testing, his household stated.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been fast to inflame different crises within the struggle, stated on Friday that Hamas had handed over the physique of a “Gazan woman” as an alternative of Bibas and that Israel would make Hamas pay.
“In an unimaginably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri to her small children, the little angels, and instead placed the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin,” Netanyahu stated in a video assertion. “We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.”
Morgues in Gaza started overflowing early within the struggle, which has killed about 48,000 folks. Throughout the combating, lots of the useless have been buried in mass graves with the intention of holding dignified funerals and transferring our bodies to graveyards when the state of affairs was safer. About 1,200 folks have been killed within the 7 October assault, and one other 250 taken hostage.
Friday’s assertion got here hours after Netanyahu ordered the navy to conduct an “intense operation” in opposition to “terror hubs” within the occupied West Financial institution after a sequence of explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, a metropolis exterior Tel Aviv, that authorities stated was a suspected terrorist assault. No accidents have been reported.
Explosives have been discovered on two different buses however didn’t detonate, the police spokesperson Asi Aharoni advised Channel 13 TV. Israeli police stated the 5 bombs have been equivalent and outfitted with timers, and bomb squads have been defusing the unexploded ones.
There was no speedy declare of duty for the explosions.
Israel has been finishing up intensified raids on the occupied West Financial institution since October 2023, killing a whole bunch of individuals. No less than 51 Palestinians together with seven kids have been killed an a crackdown on the northern West Financial institution launched by Israel after the Gaza ceasefire went into impact on 19 January, in keeping with the UN.
Thursday’s handover of our bodies is to be adopted by the return of six dwelling hostages on Saturday, in trade for a whole bunch extra Palestinian prisoners and detainees, anticipated to be ladies and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Negotiations for a second part, anticipated to cowl the return of about 60 remaining hostages, lower than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, are anticipated to start within the coming days.
Netanyahu has lengthy resisted talks aimed toward ending the struggle: a lot of his far-right coalition authorities opposes such a step if it leaves Hamas as a major drive contained in the strip.
Information businesses contributed to this report
