Israelis hold photographs of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas at a gathering calling for their release at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, on November 28, 2023. (Miriam Alster\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The military said the country\u2019s National Institute of Forensic Medicine, in collaboration with police, could not identify the body.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body,\u201d the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. \u201cThis is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, Hamas acknowledged that there may have been an \u201cerror or overlap in the bodies\u201d and said it would investigate. \u201cWe will examine these claims with complete seriousness\u201d and will \u201cannounce the results clearly,\u201d the group said, according to CNN.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that \u201cHamas will pay the full price\u201d for breaking the ceasefire deal. He called the return of the wrong body a \u201cbrazen violation of the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an indescribably cynical way, they did not return Shiri along with her children, the little angels,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cAnd they put in the coffin the body of a Gazan woman. We will act with determination to bring Shiri home, together with all of our hostages, living and dead alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Israeli military statement, issued in the early hours of Friday morning in Israel, was the latest shock in a whirlwind of strife and tragedy for Israel. And it came as Israel is preparing for the release of six living hostages on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Kfir and Ariel were taken hostage in Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack and became faces of the captives\u2019 plight and the movement to free them. Their husband and father, Yarden Bibas, was taken captive separately and released alive earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Hamas had said in November 2023 that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir had been killed in an Israeli airstrike; Israel investigated that claim but had not confirmed it. Now, the IDF statement said Hamas murdered the boys in November 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIDF representatives informed the Bibas family that their loved ones, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, have been identified,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAccording to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, Hamas announced that it would be returning their bodies to Israel. On Wednesday, the Israeli government confirmed it would be receiving their bodies. But shortly afterward, relatives of the Bibas family said they had not given permission for the government to announce that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were dead.<\/p>\n
Four coffins returned to Israel on Thursday morning. One of the bodies was quickly confirmed to be hostage Oded Lifshitz, 84. The remaining three were widely assumed to belong to Shiri and her children, and people across Israel and the world publicly mourned their deaths.<\/p>\n
Now, the IDF is demanding that Hamas release Shiri Bibas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe extend our heartfelt condolences to the Bibas family during this incredibly difficult time and remain committed to doing everything possible to ensure Shiri and all the hostages are brought home at the earliest opportunity,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning, the boys\u2019 aunt posted a grieving message on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry Luli, sorry Firfir,\u201d Ofri Bibas wrote, using nicknames for the boys. \u201cYou didn\u2019t deserve any of this. We will miss you forever. We are not giving up on your mom, Shiri.\u201d<\/p>\n
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