Hamas handed over on Thursday what it said were the remains of four Israeli hostages abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, including a woman and her two young children whom Israelis saw as symbols of the viciousness of the Hamas assault.
Crowds of Palestinians gathered near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis to watch the theatrical handoff staged by Hamas: four coffins were placed on a stage with a banner featuring a cartoonish, vampiric picture of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. Triumphant music thumped in the background.
Miles away, Israelis watched the scene unfold in horror and anguish, a sharp contrast to the catharsis evoked by the recent releases of hostages who had survived their ordeal. Israel’s leaders had vowed to topple Hamas and bring home the roughly 250 hostages the militant group and its allies abducted during the 2023 attack.
But Mr. Netanyahu has also been criticized by many Israelis for not agreeing to a cease-fire sooner that might have saved some of the captives who died in Gaza. And Hamas’s shows of force during the exchanges over the past few weeks have also demonstrated that the group is very much still in power.
Israel and Hamas are now in the final weeks of a 42-day cease-fire that began in mid-January. As part of the truce, Hamas agreed to turn over 25 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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