Israel’s forensic officials have confirmed a body handed over by Hamas on Friday is that of hostage Shiri Bibas – but have rejected Hamas’s claim that she was killed by Israeli bombing.
Dr Chen Kugel, director of Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine, said an examination found “no evidence of injuries caused by bombing”.
On Friday, Israel said that the two children of Shiri Bibas – Ariel and Kfir – had been killed with “bare hands” and that evidence of this had been sent to Israel’s partners around the world. The BBC has not seen or verified this evidence.
Hamas has said the children and their mother were killed by Israeli bombing, without providing evidence.
“Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home,” the Bibas family said in a statement.
The remains of Ariel, Kfir and another hostage, Oded Lifschitz, were handed over by Hamas on Thursday – alongside a fourth body which it said was that of Shiri Bibas. Israel’s forensic testing then showed that these remains were in fact of a different unidentified woman.
Hamas spokesman Ismail al-Thawabta said in a post on X on Friday that Shiri’s remains seemed to have been mixed up with other bodies under rubble after the air strike.
Hamas released the correct remains on Friday evening.
The Bibas family said: “For 16 months, we sought certainty, and now that we have it, there is no comfort in it, but we hope for the beginning of a closure.”
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press conference “forensic findings”, which have not been seen by the BBC, suggested Ariel and Kfir had been killed “deliberately”.
He said evidence had been shared with “partners around the world so they can verify it”.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were aged 32, four and nine months respectively when they were kidnapped during the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.
They were taken hostage along with the children’s father, Yarden Bibas, 34, who was released alive by Hamas on 1 February.
Under the first phase of a ceasefire deal, which began on 19 January and lasts for 42 days, Hamas agreed to hand over 33 hostages in return for Israel freeing 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
On Saturday, the armed group released Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, Tal Shohan, 40, and 23-year-old Omer Wenkert – all of whom were taken during the 7 October attacks.
Ethiopian-Israeli Avera Mengitsu, who was captured by Hamas in 2014, was also released. Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin Arab-Israeli held in Gaza since 2015, was handed over separately. Israel is due to free 602 Palestinian prisoners.
In subsequent stages of the agreement, Hamas will release the remaining living hostages from Gaza and return the bodies of dead hostages. Israel has pledged to release more Palestinian prisoners.
In the 7 October attacks, about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others taken back to Gaza as hostages.
In response, Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas which has killed at least 48,319 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
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