Israel returns four bodies, including two young children, who were held hostages instead of Hamas.

Khan Yunis of the Gaza Strip – Hamas released four bodies Thursday. Israeli officials say they include two young children who have long died and have come to materialize the pain of the country. Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Their mother was said to have been returned with them, but the Israeli army said that the body of another person was released in his place a few hours later.

The body was said to be itself Silviva and her two childrenAriel and Kfir, and Oded Lifeschitz, who was 83 when he was accused. Kfir, nine months old when he was taken, was the youngest of all prisoners. Hamas said all four were killed along with security guards in an Israeli airstrike.

In a social media post early Friday, the Israeli Defense Forces said that the bodies of Ariel and KFIR have been returned but not belonging to their mothers. “During the identification process, the additional bodies received were determined not of Silivivab and were not consistent with other hostages. This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” the IDF said.

In a statement released Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the false ruins as “cruel and malicious violations” of the ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas said, “The full amount was entitled I’ll pay,” he said. action. He said the fourth body was the female body of Gazan.

On Thursday, extremists showed four black cassfish on stage surrounded by banners containing a large one depicting Israeli Netanyahu as a vampire. A Red Cross has arrived at the scene in the Gaza Strip.

The fighter then carried the CAS to the Red Cross vehicle. There, staff in red vests covered them with white sheets before putting them inside. Each cas had a photo fixed to the front, depicting images of a murdered hostage, whose bodies were allegedly inside.

The Red Cross fleet returned to Israel, and authorities were using DNA to carry out a formal identification process on the remains, but it was expected to take up to two days. However, a statement from the Lifshitz family shared by the Hostage Family Forum said that “we received the official and bitter news confirming the identification of our beloved Oded body with deep sadness.”

“We hoped and prayed for another outcome. Now we can lament our husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who have been missing from us since October 7th,” the family said. He said, adding that their “healing process will be like that. Start now and won’t finish until the last hostage is returned.”

Thousands of people, including numerous masks and armed fighters from Hamas and other factions, gathered at a handoversight on the outskirts of southern Gaza city in Gazayonis.

“All homes in Israel today bow our heads today. We bow our heads to the greatest loss of the four hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Our four co-owners are obliged to promise and swear more than ever before that what happened on October 7th will never happen again.”

Israeli channels did not broadcast the handover. At the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where Israelis gathered to watch the release of the Live Hostages, the big screen features photos and videos of the Lifshitz and Bibas family, including laughing baby Kfir and family dressed as Batman costumes. Editing was seen. The father of the child, Yalden Vivas, was not with his family on October 7th, but was taken separately. He was Released earlier this month 16 months after being taken prisoner.

Dozens of Kibbutz Nir Oz residents, who were tempted by four murdered hostages released on Thursday, gather together to find Israeli flags outside a temporary home an hour north of the devastated Kibbutz They gathered to swing.

Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks A sparse ceasefire It suspended war for over 15 months. But Thursday’s handover will provide harsh reminders for those who have died in captivity, leading up to a talk that led to a ceasefire for over a year.

It can also provide a driving force for negotiations in the second phase of a ceasefire that has barely started. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.

Kfir Bibas was just nine months old and was a smiling red-headed toddler with no teeth when the militants rushed into their family homes on October 7, 2023. His brother Ariel was four years old. When the militants led them to Gaza.

Israeli relatives stuck to hope, marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays and his brother’s fifth. The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that they will wait for a “identification procedure” before acknowledging that their loved one is dead.

Supporters across Israel have worn oranges in solidarity with their families, a reference to the red hair of the two boys, and the popular children’s songs were written in their honor.

Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was accused of Kibbutz Nir Oz, and his wife Yocheved, who was released during the weekly ceasefire in November 2023.

Hamas-led militants accused 251 hostages, including around 30 children, in the terrorist attacks on October 7, where they killed around 1,200, mostly civilians.

More than half of the hostages, as well as most women and children, have been released in ceasefire contracts or other transactions. Israeli forces rescued eight people and retrieved dozens of people who were killed in the first attack or died in captivity.

Hamas is scheduled to release six living hostages in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, and will release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase of the ceasefire. It’s there. It is believed to leave about 60 hostages for the extremists, and all men, half of them, are dead.

Hamas said he would not release the remaining prisoners without a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israel. Netanyahu says with full support from the Trump administration, he is committed to destroying Hamas’ troops, governing its capabilities and returning all hostages.

Trump’s proposal to remove around 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so that the US can own and rebuild it has been welcomed by Netanyahu, but has been universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries. threw more doubt on the ceasefire.

Hamas may be reluctant to release more hostages if they believe the war will annihilate the groups or resume with the goal of forcing the relocation of Gaza’s population.

Israeli military attacks killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Israel says it killed more than 17,000 fighter jets without providing evidence.

The attack destroyed vast areas of Gaza and reduced the entire neighborhood to fields of tiled rubs and bombed buildings. At that height, the war drove out 90% of Gaza’s population. Many people returned home, nothing remained and found no way to rebuild.

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