After Sending Wrong Corpse to Israel, Hamas Asks for ‘Hostage’ Body Back

Hamas militants take pictures as fellow masked Palestinian fighters carry one of the coffins during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. Hamas handed over on February 20 coffins believed to contain the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including those of the Bibas family who became symbols of the ordeal that has gripped Israel since the Gaza war began. The transfer of the bodies is the first by Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war, and is taking place under a fragile ceasefire that has seen living hostages exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. (Photo by Abood Abusalama / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
BREITBART | Published February 21, 2025

The Hamas terrorist group demanded Friday that Israel repatriate the body it handed over originally claiming it was Shiri Bibas, but Israeli authorities determined was not.

In a statement seen by the Times of Israel, Hamas says it will “examine these allegations very seriously” of mistaken identity and announce the results of its investigation.

As Breitbart News reported, Hamas on Thursday released the remains of what it claimed were four Israeli hostages it murdered following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The bodies handed over in a ghoulish Gaza ceremony were said to be of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was snatched.

It turns out Shiri Bibas was not among them and Hamas wants what is now says is a “Palestinian woman” sent in error to be sent back straight away.

The Hamas statement reiterates its claim that there may have been an “error or mix up” in bodies found in the rubble of an Israeli airstrike which it said killed Shiri and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir.

Israel said last night that Ariel and Kfir, whose remains were identified after being handed over, were murdered in captivity by terrorists.

The terror group says it remains committed to implementing the current ceasefire-hostage release deal and vows to uphold “all of our obligations,” claiming that it has no interest in holding on to any bodies of hostages.

 

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SOURCE: www.breitbart.com

RELATED: Fresh hell as Hamas hands over WRONG body to youngest hostages’ grieving family: Remains of Shiri Bibas are NOT her – and Israel say tests show little Kfir and Ariel were murdered in captivity

A Hamas terrorist stands over four coffins, said to hold the bodies of the four hostages
DAILY MAIL ONLINE | Published February 21, 2025

Israel has condemned Hamas after the terror group handed over the body of an unknown person in place of Shiri Bibas – the mother of the youngest hostages whose remains were formally identified last night.

Shiri’s sons Ariel and Kfir Bibas had been ‘brutally murdered’ in captivity in November 2023, the Israeli military said after carrying out forensic checks on their remains. The boys would have been aged 4 and 10 months respectively at the time.

Hamas handed over four bodies on Wednesday as part of a fragile ceasefire deal, with the fourth being identified as the UK-linked journalist Oded Lifschitz, 83.

Shiri Bibas’ remains were supposed to be released as part of the deal, which Israel’s Defence Forces now say has been violated.

‘This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organisation, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages,’ the IDF said. ‘We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of committing a ‘cruel and evil’ violation of the ceasefire deal.

He vowed that Israel ‘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.’

The corpse that was in the casket with Shiri’s picture on remains an ‘anonymous, unidentified body,’ and does not belong to any other hostage, the Israeli military said.

The Bibas family, father Yarden Bibas, mother Shiri, baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel

 

Kfir Bibas was just nine months old when he was kidnapped from a kibbutz on October 7 along with his mother, Shiri Bibas, and his four-year-old brother Ariel
Due to Kfir being the youngest of the hostages taken on October 7 the Bibas Family had become amongst the most famous of the 251 Israelis taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations described the failure to return Shiri’s body as ‘a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel.’

Hamas ‘continues to violate every basic moral value,’ Danon said, noting that the terror organization ‘returned an unidentified body, as if it were a worthless shipment.’

Kfir Bibas was just nine months old when he was kidnapped from a kibbutz on October 7 along with his mother and his four-year-old brother Ariel.

The children’s father Yarden Bibas was released by Hamas earlier this month as part of the ceasefire deal.

Hamas has claimed they were all killed in Israeli airstrikes a the start of the war.

Due to Kfir being the youngest of the hostages taken on October 7 the Bibas Family had become among the most famous of the 251 Israelis taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7.

The four coffins were displayed to crowds in front of disturbing propaganda posters before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by armed Hamas fighters.

They were then transferred to the Israeli military inside Gaza, where they were checked and draped in Israeli flags, before being driven across the border into Israel. They were welcomed home by flag-waving Israelis, who lined the convoy’s route.

Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed fighters, had gathered at the site in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, to watch the chilling handover ceremony, filming, cheering and waving banners.

Condemning the horrific scenes, UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement that ‘under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families.’

Hamas had previously claimed in November 2023 that the mother and her children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, though never presented any evidence, and Israel never confirmed their deaths.

In a statement the IDF said: ‘Following the completion of the identification process by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with the Israel Police, IDF representatives informed the Bibas family that their loved ones, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, have been identified.

IDF officers salute by the coffins after receiving the bodies of the Hamas hostages during the handover process
This undated photo provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum shows Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz who was abducted and brought to Gaza on October 7, 2023
Israelis gathered near the National Forensic Institute, where the identification process is set to be carried out after Hamas handed over the bodies of 4 Israeli hostages

According to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.

‘During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body.

‘This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.

 

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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk

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