PA MediaIsrael has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal after forensic testing revealed the physique returned from Gaza on Thursday was not that of Shiri Bibas.
The three different our bodies handed over have been recognized as her sons, Ariel and Kfir, who would have been aged 5 and two, and Oded Lifshitz, the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) stated.
Hamas has not but commented on Israel’s declare.
Israel demanded the return of her physique together with the opposite remaining hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an announcement on Friday that Israel would “make sure that Hamas pays the complete value for this merciless and evil violation of the settlement”.
“We’ll act with willpower to carry Shiri residence together with all our hostages – each dwelling and lifeless,” Netanyahu stated.
The IDF posted on X that “through the identification course of, it was decided that the extra physique obtained is just not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was discovered for some other hostage. That is an nameless, unidentified physique.”
“This can be a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organisation, which is obligated underneath the settlement to return 4 deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri residence together with all our hostages.”
The IDF stated that the 2 youngsters “have been brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023”, in response to intelligence and forensic findings. Hamas had stated the boys and their mom have been killed in an Israeli bombing.
The Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board stated it was “horrified and devastated by the information that their mom, Shiri, was not returned—regardless of the settlement and our determined hopes”.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas have been aged 32, 4 and 9 months once they have been kidnapped through the Hamas assaults on Israel on 7 October 2023. They’ve turn into a logo for a lot of in Israel and information of their deaths was met with an outpouring of grief.
The youngsters’s father Yarden Bibas, 34, was launched by Hamas on 1 February.
Israel has confirmed that the fourth physique returned on Thursday was that of veteran peace activist, Oded Lifshitz.
The discharge of hostages’ our bodies was agreed as a part of the ceasefire deal which got here into impact on 19 January, and Israel has confirmed it expects eight our bodies shall be handed over.
The 2 sides agreed to alternate 33 hostages for about 1,900 prisoners by the tip of the primary six weeks of the ceasefire.
Talks on progressing to the following section of the deal – underneath which the remaining dwelling hostages could be launched and the warfare would finish completely – have been attributable to begin earlier this month however haven’t but begun.
Twenty-eight hostages and greater than 1,000 prisoners have up to now been exchanged.
Sixty-six hostages taken on 7 October are nonetheless being held in Gaza. Three different hostages, taken greater than a decade in the past, are additionally being held. About half of all of the hostages nonetheless in Gaza are believed to be alive.
About 1,200 individuals – largely civilians – have been killed within the Hamas assaults on 7 October 2023 and 251 others taken again to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched an enormous navy marketing campaign towards Hamas in response, which has killed no less than 48,297 Palestinians – primarily civilians – in response to the Hamas-run well being ministry.
Additionally on Thursday, three buses exploded in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, in what Israeli police stated is a suspected terror assault.
Units in two different buses didn’t explode, they stated, including that “massive police forces are on the scenes, looking for suspects”. No casualties have been reported.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace introduced he had ordered the IDF to hold out an “intensive operation towards facilities of terrorism” within the West Financial institution.
