The remains of four Israelis taken hostage in Oct. 2023 were returned Thursday, with Hamas saying they include a young mother and her two small children who have been a symbol of 16 months of grief.
Shiri Bibas, 33 at the time, was abducted with her two sons — Ariel, 4, and Kfir, who at nine months was the youngest of the hostages. The two boys’ flame-red hair was used frequently in Israel as an emblem. Yarden Bibas, the father, was also taken hostage and held separately before being freed on Feb. 1.
They, along with Oded Lifshitz, 83 when kidnapped, were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a tiny farming collective near Gaza which lost a quarter of its 400 inhabitants in the assault that triggered the war with Hamas.
The exchange happens as negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire are due to start, with the aim of turning the six-week pause in fighting into an open-ended stop. Talks are expected to be complicated by diametrically opposing goals from the warring sides — Israel is adamant that Hamas be demilitarized and removed from power, while the Palestinian militant group says its open to ceding Gaza’s governing but shows no willingness to lay down weapons. Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and many other countries.
If they can’t agree, the war could start up again next month, risking more deaths in Gaza and the lives of remaining Israeli hostages.
It’s the first time deceased hostages are returned in negotiations, although Israeli forces previously recovered remains as part of military operations in Gaza. The handover occurred on a stage set up by Hamas in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, in front of a billboard showing a satanic-looking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the assertion that Israeli missiles killed those being returned.
Israeli officials have in the past acknowledged the accidental killing of some hostages as a result of army actions. But in other cases, they said, recovered bodies bore signs of small-arms fire that pointed to execution by Hamas.
The handover ceremony was witnessed by hundreds of armed militants and a number of former Hamas prisoners freed in recent exchanges, part of the Iran-backed group’s effort to illustrate its ongoing presence and power despite Israel’s attempt to destroy it.
Israeli officials said the bodies would be taken for medical verification before an announcement of their identities. They expect the process to take at least some hours and said they’d also be seeking to clarify how hostages died.
Hamas is due to free six living hostages on Saturday, accelerating the original plan of a staggered return over across two weeks. Palestinian prisoners are due to be handed over in exchange, after Thursday’s bodies have been identified.
Lifshitz, who like many residents of Gaza’s border areas was a peace activist, was taken alive. It’s unclear when or how he died. Both of Shiri Bibas’ parents were killed in the original attack.
For Israelis, a hand-held video of Shiri Bibas cradling Kfir and Ariel in a blanket as they were hustled from their home was among the most abiding images of the Oct. 7 attack.
Although hostage releases have been going on for weeks, the confirmation that Shiri Bibas and her sons are dead is being received in Israel with unusual sorrow and fury. Public entertainment — concerts, plays — was canceled for Thursday evening in mourning.
Thousands of Hamas operatives crossed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. In the war with Israel, more than 48,000 Gazans have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
