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.
A Russian strike on a gas station in Kyiv has killed two people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschk...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the weekend BRICS summit, amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, joining...
Shanghai Enflame Technology, one of China’s leading artificial intelligence chipmakers and a domestic rival to Nvidia, surged more than 200 p...
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
Overnight Iranian strikes on an air base in Jordan damaged multiple U.S. aircraft and left one without a wing, American media reported. Meanwhile, explosions were heard across parts of southern Iran according to local media reports.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Wednesday they attacked two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, calling the strikes a response to a U.S. attack on five Iranian tankers.
Ukrainian forces struck a Russian oil refinery in Siberia and a seaport in Dagestan in the past 24 hours, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He will meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday to discuss air defences for Ukraine over winter.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the weekend BRICS summit, amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, joining a host of foreign dignitaries.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the weekend BRICS summit, amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, joining a host of foreign dignitaries.
Georgia’s top security official has held face-to-face talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart in China, with both sides pledging to deepen intelligence cooperation amid growing global security challenges.
More than 46,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since fighting escalated last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, warning that the number is rising “by the hour”.
Turkic states are considering the creation of a new law enforcement agency, TURKPOL, as members of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) step up security cooperation.
Overnight Iranian strikes on an air base in Jordan damaged multiple U.S. aircraft and left one without a wing, American media reported. Meanwhile, explosions were heard across parts of southern Iran according to local media reports.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment