Hamas delivered Thursday those who said were the remains of four Israelis taken hostage during October 7, 2023, attacks against Israel, including a woman and her two children whose abduction was widely seen as an emblematic of Hamas’ assault.
Palestinians from Palestinians gathered near the southern city of Gaza of Khan Youunis to look at the theatrical transfer staged by Hamas: four coffins placed on a stage in front of a cartoon and vampiric picture of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister . Triumphic music beat in the background.
A coffin brought a photo of Kfir Bibas, who was less than nine months old when he was kidnapped. A few meters away, a poster threatened that if Israel returned to war against Hamas, even more hostages would have returned to coffins.
Miles away, the Israelis saw the scene taking place in horror and anguish, a clear contrast with the catharsis evoked by the recent outputs of surviving hostages. Israel leaders had promised to overthrow Hamas and bring home the approximately 250 hostages the militant group and its allies kidnapped in October 2023.
But some of those captured in captivity now return home dead.
Critics in Israel say that Mr. Netanyahu shares at least a part of guilt, claiming that he pushed with his campaign against Hamas rather than agreeing before a ceased the fire that would have saved some lives.
And despite more than a year of devastating war, Hamas’s strength show has shown that the group was still very responsible in Gaza. Dozens of armed men – most covered in the Green Hamas bands – patrolled the area around the transfer.
Thursday, the coffins containing remains were the last stage objects.
Volker Türk, the high commissioner of the United Nations for human rights, defined the “disgusting and cruel” view “, adding that” flies in front of international law “.
Hamas has identified the four deaths such as Shiri Bibas and his children, Ariel and Kfir and Oded Lifshitz. When they were kidnapped, Mrs. Bibas was 32 years old, Ariel was 4 years old and Kfir was less than 9 months old; Mr. Lifshitz was 83 years old. All four were by Nir Oz, an Israeli community that saw about a quarter of his 400 residents killed or kidnapped in the Hamas attack.
The surprise attack led by Hamas killed about 1,200 people, including the parents of Mrs. Bibas, according to Israel. The incessant campaign of Israel against Hamas in Gaza followed quickly, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians and leaving most of the ruined enclave.
Hamas said that the four people whose remains were returned on Thursday were killed by Israeli aircraft attacks, which Israel did not confirm.
The main forensic institute of Israel said on Thursday evening that the body of Mr. Lifshitz was within one of the coffins, but the experts were still examining the others.
Israel and Hamas are now in the last few weeks of a ceased the fire of 42 days which has started in mid -January. As part of the truce, Hamas has agreed to transform over 25 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight in exchange for over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
In exchange for the bodies, Israel should free women and minors of Gaza who have been held during the war, generally without formal accusations.
Two Israeli officials said that Palestinian prisoners should be freed on Saturday, in part to allow Israel to conduct forensic tests and identify the bodies returned. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
While the rain lowered itself, the officials of the International Red Cross Committee-Ci is served by the middle of the exchanges during the exchanges-they placed the four coffins in white vehicles. Israel later confirmed that he had brought the boxes to the Israeli forces.
In Israel, right -wing politicians, including Netanyahu, reiterated the requests for revenge against Hamas. Others saw the return of the bodies as another sign of how important it was to bring the remaining prisoners to home immediately.
“Next to sadness, he stressed that the most critical thing is now all back behind them,” said Bar Goren, 24 years old, whose parents were both killed in the attack on Nir Oz. “Everyone deserves this closure.”
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, said that “there are no words” for the agony of seeing the coffins. Many Israelis have now familiarly familiar with the names and faces of the hostages, whose images have been omnipresent in the country by their kidnapping.
“Our hearts – the hearts of an entire nation – are found in shreds,” Herzog wrote on social media. “On behalf of the state of Israel, I call the head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not having protected you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not having brought you home safely. “
Mrs. Bibas’s husband, Yarden Bibas, was also kidnapped. In the movie of the scene that is now unpopted in the national memory of Israel, a terrified Mrs. Bibas – covered by a blanket – could be seen tightening Ariel and Kfir to the chest while taking away from armed militants.
In November 2023, Hamas published a statement that announced the death of Mrs. Bibas and the two children. The group also published a propaganda video with a sobbing Mr. Bibas, while he was still in captivity, responding to the news. Human rights groups have said that these videos are equivalent to war crimes.
Bibas was freed in early February as part of the ceased fire agreement.
Mr. Lifshitz, a retired journalist, was brought alongside his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz. Hamas later freed her for what she said were “humanitarian reasons”, but she refused to release her husband. Before the war, Mr. Lifshitz had volunteered to guide Gazas looking for medical care in Israel in hospitals.
Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have seen emotional houses in recent weeks. The Israeli hostages, many of which are thin and pale, gathered with their families after many months in the Warren of Underground Tunnels in Hamas.
And the Palestinian prisoners – some of whom also emerged from the Israeli prisons that seemed scarna – also embraced their loved ones. Some were serving life sentences for mortal attacks against the Israelis, while many others had not been accused of any crime.
Saturday, Hamas should free the last six living hostages covered in the first phase of the ceased the fire in exchange for multiple Palestinian prisoners. The remains of four other will be released on the following weekend.
But the future of the truce after the first phase, which will expire in early March, is still wrapped in uncertainty.
Israel and Hamas have not agreed on the terms to extend the agreement in a new phase that would end the war conclusive, will free the remaining hostages and see a complete retreat of Israeli forces.
President Trump has put pressure on both sides to conquer such agreement. But Israel refused to support any Hamas control in Gaza, while Hamas showed little appetite for dissolving his battalions of armed fighters or having sent his leaders of Gaza in exile.
Steve Witkoff, the correspondent of the Middle East of Mr. Trump, declared during a conference in Miami Beach on Thursday that reaching the next phase of the agreement would be difficult, in part due to the red line of Israel on Hamas that governs Gaza.
“It’s difficult to quench that circle,” said Witkoff. “But we are making many progress in conversations and we hope it will bring some good things, good results.”
Kate Kelly Reference contribution from Miami Beach, Florida.