Hamas handed over the bodies of the two boys and their mother of the Bibas family as well as a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, on Thursday (Feb 20) under the Jan 19 Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hamas, on Thursday, handed over the bodies of two siblings to the International Committee
00:09of the Red Cross.
00:10The then nine-month-old Kefir and his four-year-old brother, Ariel Bibas, were the two youngest
00:16captives taken by Hamas in their attack at the Gaza-Israel border on October 7, 2023.
00:23The remains of the siblings' mother, Shiri Bibas, and that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz
00:28were also released by Hamas at the handover ceremony.
00:32Many Israelis watched the ceremony on giant screens at the hostages' square in Tel Aviv
00:37with sadness.
00:38You know, I've been wearing this for nearly 500 days, and honestly I think today is one
00:48of the saddest days of my 40 years in Israel.
00:52Not only specifically for this poor family who did not get the, I mean, I don't even
00:58think we thought that the babies were alive for a long time, but I feel terrified that
01:05our government is going to continue not making the right decisions to end the war.
01:11In November 2023, Hamas claimed that three detainees from the Bibas family had been killed
01:17in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
01:20The Bibas were taken captive along with the father, Yarden, as well as Lifshitz from the
01:25kibbutz near Oz community.
01:27Yarden was released together with two other hostages on February 1.
01:32Shiri and the kids became a symbol.
01:41I'm sure they don't want it.
01:45We don't know nothing about all the people that's not in Israel.
01:50And until we don't have the facts, dead or alive, so we have the hope.
02:00I have the hope.
02:01Hamas said they will release the remaining six living Israeli hostages on Saturday under
02:06the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel.
02:09They said they will hand over more bodies of the hostages next week.
02:13In return, Israel will release another 502 Palestinian prisoners this week.