The Israeli military says it has received the remains of four captives after Hamas handed them over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.
The remains are said to be those of Shiri Bibas and her two young children, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted.
Israeli authorities will use DNA to identify the remains, a process that could take up to two days. “The heart of an entire nation breaks,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
Hamas has said all four were killed in Israeli airstrikes while Israel had previously said it had “grave concern” for the lives of the Bibas family.
A top Hamas official announced earlier this week that the militant group will return the four bodies and free six living Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners during the ceasefire’s first phase.
The deal’s first phase calls for Hamas to gradually release 33 hostages, eight of whom are believed to be dead.
So far, the return of 19 living Israeli hostages has been celebrated across the nation, but the handover of the bodies on Thursday is sure to be met with a sombre tone.
Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said on Tuesday the dead would include the “Bibas family”.
The Bibas family were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. Their plight captivated Israelis who saw in them an embodiment of the brutality of Hamas’ attack. Yarden Bibas, the husband and father, was freed from captivity earlier this month.
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