Hamas said it had returned the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons. The Israeli military announced that the boys were murdered in Gaza and that Ms. Bibas’s body was that of someone else.The New York Times reports that Hamas has claimed to have returned the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were abducted to Gaza in October 2023. However, the Israeli military has announced that the boys were actually murdered in Gaza and that Ms. Bibas’s body may be that of someone else.
For 16 months, the faces of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons have been fading from the public eye as their photographs, posted on walls and bus stops after their abduction, began to deteriorate. But on Friday, their tragic story was brought back to the forefront of Israeli consciousness in a shocking and unsettling way, raising concerns about the fragile cease-fire in Gaza.
The truce was expected to continue through the weekend as both sides prepared for an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners on Saturday. However, the discovery of the Bibas family’s fate has cast doubt on the extension of the truce.
The Israeli military announced on Friday morning that Ms. Bibas’s body, along with those of her sons, was returned by Hamas on Thursday, but appeared to be that of someone else. An autopsy of the two boys, aged 4 and 8 months at the time of their abduction, revealed that they were killed by terrorists in Gaza “with their bare hands.”
A senior Hamas official, Mousa Abu Marzouq, denied the accusation that the Mujahideen Brigades, a small militant group that held the hostages, had murdered the family. He claimed that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023. However, he did acknowledge that Ms. Bibas’s body may have been mistakenly kept in Gaza and that Hamas members were searching for her remains.
Both sides’ accounts cannot be independently verified. The news has sparked outrage and grief in Israel, reminiscent of the days following the deadly attack in 2023 when Ms. Bibas and her sons were among the 251 people abducted.
The New York Times reports that the family’s tragic fate has caused a stir in Israel, and the search for the truth continues.
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