Hamas has turned over the remains of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old sibling Ariel, who were the youngest captives taken during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, and have become powerful symbols of the anguish caused that day.
Four black coffins, placed on a stage, were loaded into Red Cross vehicles that left the handover site in Gaza. Each casket featured a small photo of the hostages.
The area was secured by armed Hamas militants dressed in black and camouflage uniforms.
Volker Turk, the United Nations rights chief, condemned the display of bodies in Gaza as abhorrent and cruel, stating it violated international law.
(L-R) Shiri Bibas, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, and Oded Lifschitz
After the Red Cross handed over the hostages, the coffins were inspected for explosives, as noted by the military, before being taken to Israel.
As the convoy carrying the coffins passed by, Israelis braved the rain near the Gaza border to pay their last respects.
In Tel Aviv, mourners gathered at Hostages Square, some in tears, outside Israel’s defense headquarters.
“Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts – the hearts of an entire nation – are in ruins,” proclaimed Israel’s President Isaac Herzog.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that the country was “united in unbearable grief” and pledged to “eliminate” Hamas.
Read more: ‘Parading of caskets’ by Hamas ‘despicable’ – Tánaiste
As the bodies were returned, militants in Gaza stood near a poster displaying a man looming over coffins draped in Israeli flags, depicting tree roots instead of legs to suggest that the land belongs to Palestinians. The poster carried the text, “The Return of the War=The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins.”
The two boys, their mother Shiri Bibas, and another captive, Oded Lifschitz, were released under a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States with the assistance of Qatar and Egypt.
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The Bibas family was kidnapped from their kibbutz during the October 2023 assault.
At just nine months old, Kfir Bibas was taken along with his family, including his father Yarden, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was one of the many communities near Gaza that were attacked by Hamas insurgents.
In November 2023, Hamas claimed that the boys and their mother had perished in an Israeli airstrike, though Israeli authorities never confirmed their deaths.
“Shiri and the kids became a symbol,” remarked Yiftach Cohen, a resident of Nir Oz, which suffered significant losses, either from deaths or kidnappings during the invasion.
In a prisoner exchange earlier this month, Yarden Bibas was returned.
Several of those who lost their lives on 7 October were recognized peace activists.
People embrace as Israeli flags are arranged at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv prior to the handover of the bodies
Oded Lifschitz, aged 83 at the time of his abduction, was one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
His wife Yocheved, who was 85, was taken with him but released two weeks later alongside another woman. Lifschitz was a former journalist.
In a January 2019 op-ed in the left-leaning Haaretz, he outlined what he termed Mr. Netanyahu’s policy failures, which included his refusal to support the two-state solution with the Palestinians and a 2011 agreement to swap over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including hardliner Yahya Sinwar, for a captured Israeli soldier.
Sinwar would later ascend to become Hamas’ leader in Gaza and the architect of the October 7 assault. He was killed during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu and the defense establishment have faced scrutiny regarding the security lapse on 7 October, which marked the deadliest day in the country’s history.
The handover today signifies the first return of deceased bodies under the current agreement.
Mr. Lifschitz’s family later confirmed that his body had been officially identified.
“Our family’s healing process will now begin and will not conclude until the last hostage is returned,” the family stated.
The Hamas-led attack on Israel resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities, according to Israeli estimates, with 251 individuals taken hostage.
The subsequent war launched by Israel has resulted in around 48,000 deaths, according to Palestinian health officials, and has devastated densely populated areas of Gaza.
Hamas militants escorting Yarden Bibas on stage in Gaza on 1 February ahead of his release
This handover will soon be followed by the return of six live hostages on Saturday, as part of a deal involving hundreds of additional Palestinians, mostly women and children, detained by Israeli forces during the ongoing conflict.
Discussions for a second phase, which is anticipated to address the return of approximately 60 remaining hostages—less than half of whom are believed to still be alive—and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza to facilitate an end to the conflict, are expected to commence shortly.
The situation has been complicated by former President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Palestinians outside Gaza, a suggestion critics argue would equate to ethnic cleansing, along with the development of the enclave as a waterfront property under U.S. oversight.
