Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge after Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages, including infants, in a highly publicised handover. The move comes amid ongoing ceasefire negotiations and a deadly 16-month-long war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas after the group handed over the remains of four hostages, including the infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel. The boys were among the youngest taken during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The bodies were returned in a highly choreographed public display, with armed Hamas militants overseeing the handover. The move drew condemnation from UN human rights chief Volker Turk, who called it “abhorrent and cruel.”
Israelis gathered in the rain near the Gaza border as the convoy carrying the coffins passed, while crowds in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square mourned the loss. “Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,” said President Isaac Herzog.
Netanyahu, in a recorded address, declared that the four coffins underscored Israel’s commitment to ensuring there would be no repeat of the October 7 attack. “Our loved ones’ blood is shouting at us from the soil,” he said.
The return of the bodies came under the ongoing Gaza ceasefire agreement mediated by the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt. Hamas claims the Bibas family was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year, though Israel never confirmed their deaths.
Among those returned was 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, a former journalist abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Israeli officials say he was murdered in captivity by the militant group Islamic Jihad. His wife, Yocheved, had been released weeks after their capture.
Thursday’s handover marks the first return of deceased hostages under the ceasefire deal. Israel expects six living hostages to be freed on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and minors.
As negotiations continue, a second phase of talks is expected to discuss the fate of around 60 remaining hostages, fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive.
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