Hamas handed over the bodies on Thursday of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day.
Hamas handed over the bodies of the two boys and their mother Shiri Bibas, along with that of a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, under the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
Red Cross vehicles drove away from the handover site in the Gaza Strip with four black coffins that had been placed on a stage. Each of the caskets had a small picture of theĀ hostages.
Armed Hamas militants in black and camouflage uniforms surrounded the area.
‘There are no words’
After the hostages were handed over by the Red Cross, the coffins were scanned for explosives, according to the military. The coffins of the four deceased hostages have been transported into Israel, the Israeli military said.
“Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts, the hearts of an entire nation, lie in tatters,” said Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.
“On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”
Hundreds of people gathered in the winter cold ahead of the handover at Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Armed Hamas militants in black and camouflage uniforms toured the area.
One militant stood beside a poster of a man standing over coffins wrapped in Israeli flags. Instead of legs he had tree roots in the ground, suggesting the land belongs to Palestinians.Ā
At the handover site, a large poster was hung up, depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire and characterizing him as a war criminal.
Kfir Bibas was nine months old when the Bibas family, including their father Yarden, was abducted at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of a string of communities near Gaza that were overrun by Hamas-led attackers.
Hamas said in November 2023 that the boys and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike but their deaths were never confirmed by Israeli authorities and even at the last minute, some refused to accept they were dead.
“Shiri and the kids became a symbol,” said Yiftach Cohen, a resident of Nir Oz, which lost around a quarter of its inhabitants, either killed or kidnapped, during the Oct. 7 assault.
Father released earlier
Yarden Bibas was returned in anĀ earlier exchangeĀ ofĀ hostagesĀ for prisoners this month. But the family said this week their “journey is not over” until they received final confirmation of what happened to the boys and their mother.
Some of those Israelis killed on Oct.Ā 7 were known peace activists.
Lifshitz was 83 when he was abducted from Nir Oz, the kibbutz he helped found. His wife, Yocheved, 85 at the time, was seized with him and released two weeks later, along with another elderly woman.
Lifshitz was a former journalist. In an op-ed published in left-leaning Haaretz in January 2019, he criticized Netanyahu’s policies, including on Hamas and Gaza.
It was expected that, once in Israel, the bodies would be transported to the national forensic institute to be identified, a process that could take a few hours or even a few days.
Only after identification will there be a formal announcement of their deaths and a funeral.
IdentitiesĀ not confirmed
The handover marks theĀ first return of dead bodies during the current agreement and Israel is not expected to confirm their identities until full DNA checks have been completed.
Despite accusations on both sides of ceasefire breaches, the fragile agreement that took effect on January 19 has held up since the first in a series of exchanges ofĀ hostagesĀ in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.
Netanyahu has faced criticism from his far-right coalition allies for agreeing to the deal, which some in Israel feel rewards Hamas and leaves the militant group in place in Gaza.
But successive surveys have shown broad support among the public for the ceasefire, and thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to demand the government stick to the deal until all the remainingĀ hostagesĀ are returned.
Israel invaded the coastal enclave after the Hamas-led attack on communities in Israel on Oct.Ā 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and taking 251 as hostages.
The Israeli military campaign that followed has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, destroyed many of its buildings and left most of the population homeless.
More hostages to be released
The handover ofĀ bodies on Thursday follows the return of six hostages, all alive, on Feb. 15, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinians, expected to be women and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza during the war.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas agreed to release 33Ā hostagesĀ in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the first phase of an agreement intended to open the way towards ending the war in Gaza.
So far 19 IsraeliĀ hostagesĀ have been released, as well as five Thais who were returned in an unscheduled handover.
Negotiations for a second phase, expected to cover the return of around 60 remainingĀ hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip to allow an end to the war, are expected to begin in the coming days.
The issue has also been clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be resettled outside Gaza, a move critics say would amount to a war crime and ethnic cleansing, and for the enclave to be developed as a waterfront property under U.S. control.