Hamas on Thursday handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza — the first time the group has released deceased captives since October 7, 2023.
They include the bodies of Shiri Bibas, who was aged 32 when she and her sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months, were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel by Hamas-led militants more than 16 months ago.
The two boys have become the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks, and the first return of hostage bodies marks a hugely emotional and somber moment for Israel.
The fourth body is that of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 years old when he and his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yocheved was released by Hamas on October 24, 2023.
Ahead of the handover, Hamas militants placed four black caskets on a stage in Khan Younis, behind which was a propaganda backdrop with slogans in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
A representative of the Red Cross was seen signing documents on the stage, before the caskets were carried into waiting Red Cross vehicles. White screens were set up to block the caskets from view as they were placed in the vehicles, with hundreds of militants and bystanders gathered at the site.
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that the Bibas children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but did not produce any evidence. Israel has never confirmed their deaths.
The children’s father, Yarden Bibas, was released by Hamas earlier this month after 484 days of captivity. He was one of the 19 Israeli hostages freed alive under the January 2025 ceasefire deal.
The bodies will be taken to the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for forensic examination.
The Israeli military had previously retrieved the bodies of multiple hostages in Gaza.
This is a developing story. More to come …