Bodies of youngest Hamas hostages said to be among those returned to Israel

Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including what it says are three members of the Bibas family, who became a symbol of the cruelty of the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.

Among the bodies believed to be handed over by the Palestinian militant group were those of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the two youngest captives seized in the attack that started the Israel-Hamas war.

The body of their mother, Shiri Bibas, was also handed over, along with that of Oded Lifshitz, 84, according to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of those still in Hamas captivity.

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency said the bodies were being transferred to them after being received by the Red Cross in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Israel says the bodies, the first to be returned under the current ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, will need to undergo forensic testing before authorities can confirm their identities.

Yarden Bibas, 35, the boys’ father and Shiri Bibas’s husband, was released on Feb. 1 under the first phase of the ceasefire deal. He was held in a different part of Gaza than his wife and children, according to hostages who were with him in captivity and have since been freed. 

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, announced on Tuesday that the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas would be among those returned this week.

He also announced that six of the remaining living captives would be released this Saturday, including two who have been held in the Gaza Strip for about a decade.

The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed it had reached an agreement on the releases during negotiations held in Cairo last week, but refrained from naming any of the hostages.

Israel had long braced to learn the fate of Kfir Bibas, who was just shy of 9 months old when he was abducted along with his parents and brother Ariel, who was 4 at the time, from their kibbutz, Nir Oz.

In late 2023, Hamas said that Shiri Bibas and the children had been killed by Israeli bombardments. Israel has yet to confirm their deaths.

On Tuesday, the Bibas family said it was “in turmoil” over the Hamas leader’s announcement of the return of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir.

“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family said in a statement.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum also named the six living hostages slated for release on Saturday: Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Tal Shoham, Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu.

“While we feel profound relief at their homecoming, we are devastated by the news that the remains of four of our loved ones will be returned this Thursday,” it said in a statement Tuesday.

Cohen, 27, Shem Tov, 22, and Wenkert, 23, were abducted from a music festival, while Shoham was taken from the community of Kibbutz Beeri, according to the group.

Civilians Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been separately held in Gaza for about a decade after they were kidnapped while crossing the border in 2015 and 2014, respectively.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 were captured in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli officials. The ensuing military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the local Hamas-run health ministry, and forcibly displaced most of its 2.3 million population.

Saturday’s handover, if successful, will mean that four hostages, all presumed dead, are still left in Gaza from the group of 33 scheduled for release under the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

The fragile agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas on Jan. 19 and has so far remained on track with the help of Qatari and Egyptian mediators, despite earlier threats of derailment.

During the first phase of the deal, which will last over a 42-day truce, Hamas has incrementally returned 19 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Five Thai hostages were also released separately.

Last week, Hamas reversed a warning it issued earlier to indefinitely postpone the hostage-prisoner swaps after both sides accused the other of violating the agreement.

The deal was also overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s call to move Palestinians out of Gaza so it can be developed into a waterfront estate.

Negotiations over the second stage of the ceasefire deal, originally slated to begin Feb. 4, will look at securing the release of the remaining 64 hostages and overseeing the administration of post-war Gaza.

Reuters reported Tuesday that an Israeli team had traveled to Cairo, while the security cabinet cleared a high-level Israeli delegation to travel to Qatar to begin talks on the second phase.

“It will happen this week,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters in Jerusalem, according to Reuters.

“If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this time framework longer,” he added.