One of the four bodies released by the Hamas militant group on Thursday was not the mother of Shiri Bibas, the Israeli army said, describing it as a "violation of the highest gravity".
Hamas said it had handed over the bodies of four hostages, including the Bibas family: Shiri and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir. In an overnight announcement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Ariel and Kfir had been identified, but the third body did not belong to Shiri or any other hostage.
"This is an anonymous, unidentified body," the IDF said, adding that it had informed the family, including Shiri's husband, Yarden Bibas, who was released earlier this month as part of a tenuous ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas claimed Bibas and her children were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the early days of the war, but Israel said testing confirmed the hostages were killed by the militant group.
The family became a symbol of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, when they were all kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.
Kfir, who was nine months old at the time of the kidnapping, was the youngest of all the hostages.
According to Israeli media, the Confirmedthat the body of the fourth hostage belongs to 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, a journalist and Palestinian rights activist.
U.S. Hostage Envoy Adam Boehler in an interview with CNN He toldthat the failure to return Shiri's body is a "clear violation" of the ceasefire that began in January.
"If I were in their shoes, I would release them all, otherwise they will face total annihilation," Boehler said in a stark warning to Hamas.
Friday's statement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to crack down on "terror centres" in the occupied West Bank after explosions rocked three parked buses in Bat Yam.
No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions, which Israeli authorities have described as a suspected terrorist attack.
Hamas was due to hand over six more live hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israeli forces. It is now unclear whether the planned exchange will take place.
It is also unclear whether the ceasefire, which has halted 15 months of fighting, will be extended once its first phase ends in early March.
Negotiations on the second phase, which would involve the return of the 60 or so remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops, were due to begin in the coming days.
euronews/ gnews.cz - RoZ
PHOTO - X IDF
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