Hamas claimed it launched the our bodies of 4 hostages on Thursday, together with a mom and her two sons.
One of many 4 our bodies launched by militant group Hamas on Thursday was not mom Shiri Bibas, Israel’s navy has mentioned, calling it a “violation of utmost severity”.
Hamas claimed it handed over the our bodies of 4 hostages, together with the Bibas household: Shiri and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir.
In an in a single day announcement, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) mentioned that Ariel and Kfir had been recognized, however the third physique was not that of Shiri or another hostage.
“That is an nameless, unidentified physique,” the IDF mentioned, including it had notified the household, together with Shiri’s husband Yarden Bibas, who was launched earlier this month as a part of the tenuous ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas have claimed that Bibas and her kids had been killed by an Israeli airstrike within the early days of the conflict, nonetheless Israel mentioned testing confirmed the hostages had been killed by the militant group.
Issues for the protection of the Bibas household had stored rising since Hamas’ assault on 7 October 2023, after they had been all kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.
Kfir, who was 9 months previous when taken, was the youngest out of all of the hostages.
The physique of the fourth hostage was confirmed to be that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, a journalist and activist for Palestinian rights, Israeli media mentioned.
Talking to CNN, US Envoy for Hostages Adam Boehler mentioned that not returning Shiri’s physique was a “clear violation” of the ceasefire, which took maintain in January.
“If I had been them, I’d launch everyone or they will face whole annihilation,” Boehler mentioned in a stark warning to Hamas.
The announcement on Friday got here hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the navy to conduct a crackdown in opposition to “terror hubs” within the occupied West Financial institution after explosions rattled three parked buses in Bat Yam.
There was no fast declare of duty for the explosions, which Israeli authorities mentioned had been a suspected terrorist assault.
Hamas was scheduled to launch six extra hostages on Saturday in alternate for a whole lot of Palestinian prisoners held by Israeli forces. It’s now unclear whether or not the scheduled swap will happen.
It is usually unclear whether or not the truce, which halted 15 months of combating, will likely be prolonged as soon as its first section ends in early March.
Negotiations for the second section, that are anticipated to cowl the return of round 60 remaining hostages within the Gaza Strip and a whole withdrawal of Israeli troops, had been meant to start within the coming days.
Extra sources • AP
