Hamas on Thursday turned over to Israel the bodies of four hostages held in the Gaza Strip, including the presumed remains of two young boys and their mother.
The Palestinian militant group first transferred the bodies to Red Cross representatives, who then took them to members of the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
The bodies were handed over to the Red Cross during a staged event at the handover site in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the coastal strip.
Numerous cheering onlookers gathered at the scene, alongside dozens of hooded and masked militants in uniform, as live images showed.
Four black coffins were displayed on the stage, with a backdrop depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a bloodied vampire hovering over images of the four deceased hostages.
“The war criminal Netanyahu and his army killed them with rockets from Zionist fighter jets,” read the text next to the images. An Israeli TV presenter described the scene as a “theatre of terror.”
According to Hamas, the deceased include a mother and her two young sons: Shiri Bibas and her boys, Ariel and Kfir. The fourth deceased hostage is said to be an elderly man.
Israel is to verify the remains, but officials have warned that this could take some time.
Video footage of the terrified mother and her two red-haired sons, captured during their abduction from Kibbutz Nir Oz following the Hamas-led massacre in the Israeli border area on October 7, 2023, was broadcast around the world.
Ariel Bibas was four years old at the time of the attack; his brother Kfir was just nine months. Their father, Yarden, was also taken on October 7. He was released alive earlier this month.
This marks the first time that the remains of Israeli victims have been handed over since the start of the Gaza war.
The Israeli army has previously recovered several hostage bodies from the Gaza Strip and brought them back to Israel.
Hamas claims that the three Bibas family members were killed in Israeli airstrikes during the early months of the war.
A person cries at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv ahead of the expected release of the remains of four Israeli hostages by Hamas. According to Hamas, the dead include a mother and two toddlers of German nationality. The Israeli army has already recovered several hostage bodies in the Gaza Strip and brought them back to Israel. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
A person cries while holding an Israeli flag at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv ahead of the expected release of the remains of four Israeli hostages by Hamas. According to Hamas, the dead include a mother and two toddlers of German nationality. The Israeli army has already recovered several hostage bodies in the Gaza Strip and brought them back to Israel. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
A woman plays with her dog at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv ahead of the expected release of the remains of four Israeli hostages by Hamas. According to Hamas, the dead include a mother and two toddlers of German nationality. The Israeli army has already recovered several hostage bodies in the Gaza Strip and brought them back to Israel. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
