Israel said Israeli children Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were taken hostage on October 7, 2023, were “deliberately” killed by their captors.
The accusations come after Israel said that Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement because the forensic tests had revealed that the body had returned from Gaza on Thursday was not that of the mother of the boys , Shiri Bibas.
Hamas said the children and their mother had been killed in an Israeli bombardment.
But the Israel Defense Forces spokesman (FDI), Daniel Hagari, said that “the medical -legal conclusions” and “intelligence” – which have not been seen or verified by the BBC – have suggested that the boys had been killed at the “point”.
Hagari said that this evidence had been shared with “Israel partners in the world so that they can verify it”. It is not clear to which partner Hagari referred to.
Earlier, Israel said three of the bodies delivered on Thursday were identified as Ariel and Kfir, who were reportedly aged five and two, and the 84 -year -old peace activist said the FDI.
But the fourth body was neither Shiri nor another hostage, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleting that Hamas “put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin”.
A Hamas spokesman, Ismail Al-Thawabta, said on Friday that Friday that the remains of Shiri seemed to have been mixed with other bodies under the rubble of a structure after an Israeli air strike.
The group told the news agency in Reuters that they would investigate what had led to remains in Israel.
Israel demanded that Hamas return Shiri with the other remaining hostages.
“Whether alive or not, they have to bring Shiri Bibas,” said IDF’s international spokesperson, the Nadav Shoshani pass, the BBC Radio 4 TODAY program.
Netanyahu said: “We will act with determination to bring Shiri home with all our hostages – both alive and dead – and to ensure that Hamas pays the high price of this cruel and perverse violation of the agreement” .
In a statement, Hamas said it had confirmed its “seriousness and total commitment to all our obligations” and had no interest in “non-compliance”.
Shortly after, the group published the names of the hostages to be released on Saturday. On the list are six hostages, including two people detained for a decade or more.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were 32 years old, four and nine months old when they were kidnapped during Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.
They have become a symbol for many in Israel and that the news that their bodies would have returned to Israel encountered a sorrow.
Thursday, the FDI posted on X that “During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no correspondence was found for any other hostage. ‘Acts an anonymous and unidentified body. “
“This is a violation of the greatest gravity of the Hamas terrorist organization, which is forced under the agreement to return four deceased hostages.”
The Smarting and Familious Family Forum said it was “horrified and devastated by the news that their mother, Shiri, was not returned – despite the agreement and our desperate hopes”.
Father of children Yarden Bibas, 34, was released by Hamas on February 1.
Israel confirmed that the fourth body returned Thursday was that of veteran peace activist Oded Lifschitz.
The release of the hostage bodies was agreed within the framework of the cease-fire agreement which entered into force on January 19, and Israel confirmed that it expects eight bodies to be given.
The two parties agreed to exchange 33 hostages for around 1,900 prisoners by the end of the first six weeks of the ceasefire.
Discussions on the progress of the next phase of the agreement – under which the remaining living hostages would be released and the war would end permanently – was to start earlier this month but has not yet started.
Twenty-eight hostages and more than 1,000 prisoners have so far been exchanged.
Sixty-six serings taken on October 7 are still standing in Gaza. Three other hostages, taken more than a decade ago, also took place. We think that around half of all hostages in Gaza are alive.
About 1,200 people – mainly civilians – were killed during Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 and 251 other people brought back to Gaza in hostages. Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas in response, which killed at least 48,297 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas.
Also Thursday, Three buses exploded in Bat Yam, south of Tel AvivIn what Israeli police said they were a suspected terrorist attack.
The devices in two other buses have not exploded, they said, adding that “the major police forces are in the scenes, looking for suspects”. No victim has been reported.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that he had ordered the FSI to lead an “intensive operation against terrorism centers” in the West Bank.
