Israel says hostage body returned by Hamas not Bibas mother

by Jay Deshmukh with AFP's team in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said he would ensure "Hamas pays the full price" for failing to hand over hostage Shiri Bibas after the militant group released a body Israel said was not hers.

The remains of four people, whom the militant group said were hostages, were handed over on Thursday, the first such transfer under a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said the remains included those of Bibas and her two young sons, whose father was released by the militant group earlier this month.

On Friday, however, Israel said the body purported to be of Shiri Bibas was instead that of a Gazan woman.

Netanyahu accused Hamas of committing a "cruel and evil" violation of the Gaza ceasefire deal by failing to return the mother.

"Not only did they abduct the father, Yarden Bibas, the young mother, Shiri, and their two small infants in an unimaginably cynical manner, but they also failed to return Shiri to her small children, the little angels, and instead placed the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin," he said.

"We will act with determination to bring Shiri home, along with all of our captives –- both the living and the fallen -– and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement," he added.

Military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram that Israel had identified the remains of the Bibas boys Ariel and Kfir, accusing "Palestinian terrorists" of killing them in November 2023.

Hamas has long maintained an Israeli air strike killed the boys and their mother early in the war.

Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it was "horrified" that Shiri Bibas was not among those returned.

- Black coffins -

Hamas also handed over a fourth body, that of Oded Lifshitz, a veteran journalist and long-time defender of Palestinian rights.

The bodies' repatriation is part of the six-week initial phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on January 19 and so far has led to the release of 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

Ahead of the handover, Hamas and members of other armed Palestinian groups displayed four black coffins with small photos of the purported deceased, on a stage in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Tania Coen Uzzielli, 59, who had come to the Tel Aviv plaza dubbed Hostages Square to watch the handover, said it was "one of the hardest days, I think, since October 7".

During their attack that day in 2023 that triggered the Gaza war, Hamas filmed and later broadcast footage showing the Bibas family's abduction from their home near the Gaza border.

Ariel was then aged four, while Kfir was the youngest hostage at just nine months old. Yarden Bibas, the boys' father and Shiri's husband, was abducted separately and released in a previous hostage-prisoner swap on February 1.

Hamas said in a statement that it and its armed wing had done "everything in their power to protect the prisoners (hostages) and preserve their lives".

Tahani Fayad, 40, was among the hundreds of people gathered to witness the handover ceremony in Gaza, which she called "proof that the occupation (Israel) will not defeat us".

- Next phase -

Israel and Hamas announced a deal earlier this week for the return of eight hostages' remains in two groups this week and next, as well as the release of the six living Israeli captives on Saturday.

Palestinian prisoners are also set to be freed in Saturday's swap, but were not part of Thursday's handover.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said talks will begin this week on the truce's second phase, aiming to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

A Hamas spokesman on Thursday accused Netanyahu of "procrastinating regarding the second phase", saying the group was "ready to engage".

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP on Wednesday that Hamas was ready to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during phase two.

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7 attack. Prior to Thursday's handover, there were 70 hostages still in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military has said are dead.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,319 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

© Agence France-Presse