Israel said that Hamas had violated a ceasefire after forensic tests found that the fourth body released Thursday morning was not of an Israeli hostage, but rather an “anonymous, unidentified body”.
Hamas was thought to have submitted the remains of the four Israeli hostages, including two children, in a gloomy exchange that initially signaled progress for the shaky ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli army quickly confirmed one of the troops was that of peace activist Oded Lifschitz, who was 83 when he was held hostage.
But early Friday morning, the army said that while she had confirmed two of the other caskets contain the remains of two brothers – Kfir, a baby and Ariel, 4, at the time of their abduction – the last body was not the mother of them Bibas Shir, then 32.
“This is a violation of the maximum severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is forced by the agreement to return four felt hostages,” Israel’s defense forces said. “We ask Hamas to return the ribbon home along with all our hostages.”
The Red Cross International Committee had transported four coffins early in the morning from Gaza, but the Bibas family, in particular, had demanded that the media not be concluded about the fate of their loved ones until the army was done with its forensic tests -Lawn.
The discovery that Hamas may have exchanged the remains of a mortgage with an unknown body will stress a fragile ceasefire.
As the troops were identified, Israeli President Isaac Herzog prayed to families and the dead for forgiveness.
“I bow my head and apologize,” he said. “Forgiveness not to protect you on that terrible day. Forgiveness not to bring you home safe. “
Israel is intended to issue hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners in return as required by the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas has pledged to issue six live hostages before the deadline on Saturday, in the hope of supporting negotiations aimed at turning the temporary ceasefire into a sustainable ceasefire. Dozens of hostages, alive and dead, remain in captivity in Gaza.
In Israel the capture of the Bibas family – the father of the children was left alive in February in the first phase of the exchanges – has become a symbol of Hamas’s brutality in the October 7, 2023 attack that caused the Gaza war.
They are also emblematic of the failures of the Israeli army that day, with an army that failed to reach Nir Oz Kibbutz until long after Hamas’ fighters had rescued again in Gaza with 80 hostages after killing dozens in the remote village.
In a propaganda video released by Hamas, the rig kept the children in their arms while armed fighters captured them. Pictures of smiling and red -haired children have become ubiquitous in Israeli posters that require the release of hostages.
Circumstances about Biba’s death remain unsafe. Hamas has said they were killed on an Israeli air strike without providing evidence.
The militant group repeated that statement on Thursday, handing over the Red Cross under a sign that blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “missiles from the Zionist war planes” for their death.
Idf had not commented on their case until Friday, when he said both children and Lifschitz “were brutally killed by terrorists in captivity.”
Lifschitz and his wife, Yocheved, were also taken from their homes near the Bibas family. Yocheved was left free 16 days in war.
A handful of families have been informed that their loved ones may have been inadvertently killed by her bombardment of Gaza, according to interviews in the Israeli media.
Officials in Gaza estimate about 50,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, were killed by the Israeli attack, which has destroyed most of the surrounded enclave. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel in the cross -border raid of Hamas and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The release of Thursday was the first of the late hostages and came to the fifth week of a six -week ceasefire agreed last month, under which Israel issued 985 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 19 Israeli vivid hostages, according to the Cross of Red.
The vast majority of Palestinians were detained in Israel without trial, while dozens were serving life sentences after being convicted in military prisons for the killing of Israelis.
Following a fierce search of the Gaza Aid for the 15 months of the war, the Israeli army has allowed thousands of trucks with humanitarian aid to Gaza since the ceasefire came into force, including a small amount of heavy machinery, and removable homes that start this week.
Talks between Israel and Hamas aim to secure a sustainable ceasefire have begun in Cairo, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and US, but an agreement would require Israel to withdraw its army from Gaza and Hamas to release 60 or more Many of the remaining pledge, many of whom are afraid of dead.
The Netanyahu’s ruling coalition depends on the support of a far -right political party that is strongly opposed to the ceasefire and has pledged to resume the attack on Hamas.
The militant group seemed to threaten live hostages during Thursday’s surrender, displaying a sign reading: “Return of war = return of your prisoners to the casket.”
Hamas is known to have executed at least six inmates last year after suspected an Israeli rescue operation in the tunnels where they were held.
Idf said at a time when no such operation was continuing and he had stalled in the recently killed hostages on a regular patrol.
