Jerusalem:
Israel said Friday that one of the four bodies returned from Gaza is not hostage Shiri Bibas, as claimed by Hamas, accusing Palestinian “terrorists” of killing her two young boys.
The Israeli military said it had identified the remains of Ariel and Kfir, Shiri’s two sons handed over by the militant group as part of hostage-prisoner swap.
“During the diagnostic process, it was found that the other body handed over does not belong to Shiri Bibas and does not match any other kidnapped individuals,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram.
“We demand Hamas return Shiri Bibas along with all the abductees,” he added.
Adraee said Israel had concluded her two sons had been killed by Palestinian “terrorists” in Gaza, contradicting Hamas’s claim that they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war.
“According to the assessment of the relevant authorities and based on available intelligence and diagnostic indicators, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally killed in captivity in November 2023 by Palestinian terrorists,” Adraee said.
On Thursday, Hamas handed over what it claimed were the remains of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who for many Israelis had come to symbolise the hostages’ ordeal since their abduction on October 7, 2023.
Hamas also handed over the body of a fourth hostage, Oded Lifshitz, a veteran journalist and long-time defender of Palestinian rights.
It was the first handover of Israeli bodies under the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
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