Israel said that Hamas had violated a shaky ceasefire after the forensic tests found that the fourth body, which was released on Thursday morning, was not an Israeli hostage, but an “anonymous, unimaginated body”.
Hamas Should the remains of four Israeli hostages, including two children, hand over in a dark exchange that initially signaled progress for the shaky ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli military quickly confirmed that one of the bodies was the 83-year-old peace activist OD Lifschitz.
But in an explanation in early Friday morning, the military said that two of the other coffins said the remains of two brothers – Kfir, a child, and Ariel (4) at the time of their hostage – the last body – the last body contained the 32 -year old mother Shiri Bibas.
“This is a violation of the greatest severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obliged to return four deceased hostages as part of the agreement,” said the Israeli defense forces. “We demand that Hamas Shiri will return home with all our hostages.”
The international committee of the Red Cross had transported the four coffins from the Gaza Strip in the early morning, especially the Bibas family, who did not jump to the conclusion about the fate of their relatives until the military was made for the forensic tests.
The revelation that Hamas may have exchanged the remains of a hostage with an unknown body is burdening a fragile ceasefire.
When the corpses were taken to identify, the families and the dead were asked for forgiveness.
“I long for forgiveness,” he said. “Forgiveness not to protect you on this terrible day. Forgiveness that you didn’t bring you home safely. “
Israel is said to publish hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners in exchange, as is necessary in the ceasefire.
Hamas has promises to publish six living hostages Before the schedule on Saturday, hoping to put the negotiations in the foreground in order to convert the temporary ceasefire into a permanent ceasefire. Dozens of hostages, alive and dead, remain in captivity in Gaza.
In Israel, the conquest of the Bibas family – the father of the children was released in the first stage of exchange in February – a symbol of the brutality of Hamas in the attack of October 7, 2023, which triggered this War in the Gaza.
They are also a symbol of the failures of the Israeli military on this day, although the army had not reached the Nir Oz Kibbutz until the fighters of Hamas had come back to Gaza with 80 hostages and killed dozens in the remote village.
In a propaganda video published by Hamas, Shiri wore the children in her arms when armed fighters grabbed her. Pictures of the smiling, red -haired children have become omnipresent on Israeli posters who demand the publication of hostages.
The circumstances around the death of the Bibas remain uncertain. Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air raid without providing evidence.
The militant group repeated this claim on Thursday and handed over the corpses to the Red Cross under a sign that blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Rakets from Zionist fighter planes” for their death.
The IDF had only commented on its case on Friday when the two children and Lifschitz “were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity”.
Lifschitz and his wife Yocheved were also taken from their houses near the Bibas family. Yocheved was released 16 days after the war.
According to interviews in Israeli media, a handful of families was informed that their relatives may have been accidentally killed by the bombing of Gaza strip.
Officials in Gaza estimate that around 50,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, were killed by the Israeli attack, which destroyed most of the besieged enclave. In Israel in Israel at Hamas, it was killed across borders and around 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli civil servants.
The publication on Thursday was the first of the deceased hostages and came from A in the fifth week Six -week ceasefire In the last month, under which Israel has published 985 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 19 living Israeli hostages, according to the Red Cross.
The vast majority of Palestinians had been arrested in Israel without legal proceedings, while dozens of lifelong prison sentences served after they were convicted of murder of Israelis in military prisons.
After the military military had heavily checked the help of the help in Gaza for the 15 months of the war in the 15 months of the war, it has made it possible for thousands of trucks with humanitarian aid in Gaza stripes since the ceasefire has expired, including a small amount of heavy machines and mobile homes from this week.
The negotiations between Israel and Hamas, who aimed to secure a permanent ceasefire in Cairo, conveyed by Egypt, Qatar and the USA. In a deal, however, Israel would withdraw his army from Gaza and Hamas to publish the remaining 60 hostages, many of which are feared for dead.
The ruling coalition of Netanyahu depends on the support of a right -wing extremist political party that is and has bitterly against the ceasefire swore to resume the attack On Hamas.
The militant group seemed to threaten the living hostages during the handover on Thursday and showed a sign with the inscription: “The return of the war = the return of their prisoners in coffins.”
It is known that Hamas executed at least six prisoners last year after assuming an Israeli rescue operation in the tunnels in which they were recorded.
At the time, the IDF said that no surgery was not completed and came across the recently killed hostages on a regular patrol.
