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Hamas said it will hand over the bodies of hostages Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir.
A person carries placards with pictures of Kfir Bibas and Ariel Bibas, who have been held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (IMAGE: REUTERS)
Hamas and Israel announced a deal Tuesday for the release of six living hostages from Gaza and the return of four captives’ bodies — including, the militants said, the remains of two young boys held up as national symbols back home.
The family of hostages Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir, the last remaining Israeli children held in Gaza, said Tuesday that they had received no “official confirmation” of their deaths after Hamas said it would return their bodies this week.
“We have been in turmoil following (the) Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday,” a statement from the family said, adding they had “not yet received any official confirmation regarding this matter”.
The trio were abducted, along with the boys’ father Yarden Bibas, during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, with Ariel and Kfir in particular coming to symbolise the hostages’ plight for many Israelis. Yarden was released alive during a previous hostage-prisoner exchange.
Hamas has previously said that Shiri and the children were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.
“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family’s statement said.
The bodies due to be handed over on Thursday are the first to be returned to Israel by Hamas since the start of the war.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, meanwhile, published the names of the six living hostages due to be released on Saturday, saying it “welcomes with profound joy the return of Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed, and Avera Mengistu”.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
- Location :
Jerusalem, Undefined
