https://arab.news/cjvrg
- Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza said it had received the “heart-shattering” news of the deaths of three members of the Bibas family whose bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday.
“We received the heart-shattering news that Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are no longer with us,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Wednesday, also naming the fourth hostage declared dead.
“This news cuts like a knife through our hearts, the families’ hearts and the hearts of people all over the world.”
On Tuesday, Hamas said it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim.
Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, 2023 and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.
Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.