Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir (Image: Family)
The remains of an Israeli mum murdered with her two children who were the youngest hostages taken on October 7 are not in any of the four caskets released by Hamas early on Thursday, as officials accuse the terrorist group of a “serious violation”.
The body of Shiri Bibas was supposed to be in the caskets released by Hamas but the Israeli Defence Forces have reportedly told the Bibas family that while the remains of Ariel, 4, and nine-month-old baby Kfir, were positively identified, the third body was not mother Shiri.
Hamas had promised the murdered mum’s remains would be released with those of her children as part of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal.
In a statement, the IDF raged at Hamas and demanded Shiri’s body.
A Hamas militant stands over the coffins which were supposed to contain the bodies (Image: AP)
They told the New York Post: “This is a very serious violation by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is required by the agreement to return four dead hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all of our hostages.”
The three bodies were supposed to be Shiri and her children and 83-year-old journalist Oded Lifschitz, whose remains have been positively identified.
This means that one of the four bodies returned to Israel is not who Hamas said it would be.
Meanwhile, Israel claims the body does belong to any other hostage and remains unidentified.
The youngest, Kfir, was just nine months old when he was abducted in the October 7 attacks, having never spent a birthday in freedom, while Ariel was four. Hamas said all four were killed as a result of Israeli strikes.
Dad Yarden Bibas with baby Kfir (Image: -)
Video footage from the day militants stormed the family home showed a terrified Shiri swaddling her two boys as Hamas took them and led them into Gaza. Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released earlier this month after 16 months in captivity.
The family became one of the most famous of the 251 Israelis taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7 due to the young age of the children, making them the youngest hostages.
Chilling photos showed the exchange at Khan Younis in Gaza where militants carried black coffins containing the bodies.
Militants displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza strip, surrounded by banners, including one depicting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. The coffins were then carried over to Red Cross vehicles where staff in red vests covered the caskets in white sheets before placing them inside a van.
Their coffins were presented amidst an exchange of prisoners between the two warring states.
The disturbing footage of the moment the mum and children were abducted (Image: -)
Relatives in Israel marked Kfir’s first and second birthdays as well as his brother’s fifth as the young boys remained in Hamas captivity. In a statement on Wednesday, the Bibas family said it would wait for « identification procedures » before acknowledging their loved ones were dead. In solidarity, supports across Israel have worn orange – a reference to the two children’s red hair.
Oded Lifshitz was also abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.
Hamas is set to release six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week – completing the ceasefire’s first phase. That means there will be around 60 hostages still in captivity, all men, around half of whom are believed to be dead.
The militant group has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Prime Minister Netanyahu, with Donald Trump‘s backing, says he is committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all hostages. Trump’s proposal to remove around 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the US can own and rebuild it has been welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries and has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.
Hamas hands over bodies of the Israeli hostages under Gaza ceasefire deal (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
So far 24 hostages have been released alive by Hamas, while Israel says it is releasing 369 Palestinian prisoners in return. A total of 251 people were abducted in the October 7 attacks, including 30 children. Most of the women and children taken have now been released, AP reports, either through ceasefire deals or other agreements. At the end of last month, Hamas released five Thai hostages allowed to return home after being abducted while working on a farm in Israel.
The returns come under a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war. It’s believed that the grim handover could provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March. Since the group’s ground offensive back in 2023, Israel has retaliated with strikes across Gaza which have so far killed 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health ministry figures quoted by the UN.
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