2 Child Hostages Among 3 Bodies Identified, Says Israel; But Their Mother Is...

Jerusalem: The Israeli military said on Friday that the remains of two child hostages have been identified but another body released by Hamas was not the boys' mother. One of the four bodies returned from Gaza was not that of hostage Shiri Bibas, contradicting claims made by the terrorist group Hamas, the IDF said.

The remains of her two sons, infant Kfir Bibas and four-year-old Ariel Bibas, were identified, while the additional body did not belong to their mother or any other Israeli hostage, according to an Israel Defense Forces statement. "The additional body is not that of their mother, Shiri, nor that of any other Israeli hostage," the military statement said. The identity of the body remains unknown.

On Thursday, Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages to Israel, prompting a nationwide outpouring of grief as flag-waving crowds lined highways on a rainy day to pay respect to a convoy carrying the coffins and thousands packed a Tel Aviv square in an emotional nighttime vigil.

The dead hostages included an elderly man who had been a journalist and peace activist along with three others said to be a mother and two young boys who became international symbols of the nation’s pain following the Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s war with the militant group in October 2023.

The remains of the two children, their mother, and a fourth hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were part of the exchange under last month’s Gaza ceasefire agreement, brokered with support from the US, Qatar, and Egypt.

The return of the bodies on Thursday will be followed by the release of six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, mainly women and minors detained by Israeli forces during the war.

Talks for a second phase of negotiations, expected to focus on the release of around 60 remaining hostages – fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive – and Israel’s full troop withdrawal from Gaza to end the war, are set to begin soon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge against Hamas on Thursday after the group released what it claimed were the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the youngest victims of the October 7, 2023, attack.

Throughout the 16-month-long conflict, Israeli officials have consistently stated that Hamas would be eliminated and that the approximately 250 hostages taken in the October 2023 attack would be brought home.

During the handover, a militant stood beside a poster featuring coffins draped in Israeli flags, with the message: "The Return of the War = The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced "the parading of bodies and displaying of the coffins of the deceased hostages in the manner seen this morning, which is abhorrent and appalling," his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

He added that international law mandates the respectful return of remains to uphold “respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families.” The Hamas-led assault on Israel resulted in nearly 1,200 deaths, with 251 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures. In response, Israel's military campaign has killed about 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials.

Kfir Bibas was only nine months old when he and his family, including his father Yarden, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of several communities near Gaza attacked by Hamas-led militants. In November 2023, Hamas claimed that the two boys and their mother had died in an Israeli airstrike, but Israeli authorities did not confirm their deaths.

"Shiri and the kids became a symbol," said Yiftach Cohen, a resident of Nir Oz, where nearly a quarter of the population was either killed or kidnapped in the attack. Yarden Bibas was released alive earlier this month in a prisoner exchange. Oded Lifshitz, abducted at 83 from Nir Oz, was among the hostages. His wife, Yocheved, 85 at the time, was taken alongside him but freed two weeks later with another woman.