Israel said Hamas had violated a cease-fire after legal medicine tests discovered that the fourth body released Thursday morning was not Israeli hostage but rather an “anonymous and unidentified body”.
Hamas was supposed to have given the remains of four Israeli hostages, including two children, in a dark exchange which initially pointed out progress for the Tremblant ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli army quickly confirmed that one of the bodies was that of peace activist Oded Lifschitz, who was 83 years old when he was taken hostage.
But early Friday morning, the soldiers said that even if he had confirmed that two of the other coffins contained the remains of two brothers – KFIR, an infant, and Ariel, 4, at the time of their kidnapping – the last body n ‘ was not that of their mother Shiri Bibas, then 32.
“This is a violation of the greatest gravity of the Hamas terrorist organization, which is forced under the agreement to return four deceased hostages,” said the Israeli defense forces. “We demand that Hamas come back to Shiri at home with all our hostages.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross had transported the four coffins early in the morning of Gaza, but the Bibas family, in particular, had asked that the media do not draw conclusions on the fate of their loved ones until the ‘Army is completed with his medical-legal tests.
The revelation that Hamas may have exchanged the remains of a hostage with an unknown body which will underline a fragile ceasefire.
While the bodies were taken for identification, the president of Israel Isaac Herzog begged families and the dead for forgiveness.
“I include my head and ask for forgiveness,” he said. “Sorry not to protect yourself on this terrible day. Sorry not to take your home safely.
Israel is supposed to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners other in exchange, as required by the cease-fire agreement.
Hamas has promised to release six living hostages Before the calendar on Saturday, in the hope of strengthening negotiations aimed at converting the temporary ceasefire into a sustainable truce. Dozens of hostages, living and dead, remain in captivity in Gaza.
In Israel, the capture of the Bibas family – the father of the children was released alive in February in the first stage of the exchanges – became a symbol of the brutality of Hamas during the attack of October 7, 2023 which triggered the War in Gaza.
They are also emblematic of the failures of the Israeli army that day, the army not having reached Nir Oz Kibbutz until long after Hamas fighters escaped Gaza with 80 hostages, having killed dozens in the remote village.
In a propaganda video published by Hamas, Shiri carried the children in his arms while the armed fighters seized them. Photos of children with smiling red hair have become omnipresent on Israeli posters requiring the release of hostages.
The circumstances around the death of the bibas remain uncertain. Hamas said they had been killed in an Israeli air strike without providing evidence.
The militant group repeated this assertion on Thursday, putting the bodies to the Red Cross under a sign that blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the “Sionist war planes” for their death.
The FDI had not commented on their case before Friday, when he said that the two children and lifschitz “were brutally murdered by captivity terrorists”.
Lifschitz and his wife, Yocheved, were also removed from their houses near the Bibas family. Yocheved was released 16 days in war.
A handful of families have been informed that their loved ones may have been inadvertently killed by his Gaza bombing, according to interviews in Israel Media.
Gaza officials estimate that around 50,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, were killed by the Israeli assault, which destroyed most of the besieged enclave. According to Israeli officials, around 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the cross -border Hamas raid and around 250 were taken hostage.
The release Thursday was the first of the dead hostages and came the fifth week of a six-week ceasefire Okay last month, under which Israel released 985 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 19 living Israeli hostages, according to the Red Cross.
The vast majority of Palestinians had been detained in Israel without trial, while dozens were serving perpetuity sentences after being condemned in military prisons for having killed Israelis.
After having clearly controlled the entry of assistance to Gaza during the 15 months of war, the Israeli soldiers authorized thousands of trucks with humanitarian aid in Gaza since the ceasefire entered into force, including A small amount of heavy machines and mobile houses from this week.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at ensuring a sustainable truce began in Cairo, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. But an agreement would oblige Israel to withdraw its army from Gaza and Hamas to release the 60 remaining hostages, many of which are fearful.
Netanyahu’s coalition in power depends on the support of a far-right political party which is bitterly opposed to the ceasefire and swore to resume the assault on Hamas.
The militant group seemed to threaten the living hostages during Thursday’s transfer, displaying a sign that said: “The return of the war = the return of your prisoners to the coffins.”
Hamas is known for having executed at least six prisoners last year after suspected an Israeli rescue operation in the tunnels where they were detained.
The FDI said that at the time, no operation of this type was underway and that it had come across the hostages recently killed during a regular patrol.
