Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday condemned Hamas for failing to hand over the remains of Shiri Bibas, a mother of two taken hostage by militants, despite a promise to do so, and said the body released was that of a Gaza resident.
Hamas turned over the bodies of the 32-year-old German-Israeli woman’s sons, Ariel and Kfir — who were just 4 years old and 9 months old when they were abducted — along with another deceased captive, 84-year-old peace activist Oded Lifshitz, on Thursday.
However, in a grotesque twist, Israeli forensic experts later determined that the remains in a fourth coffin did not belong to Shiri Bibas as Hamas claimed.
The Israeli military called it a “violation of utmost severity” of a ceasefire deal that was already fragile.
In a statement on Friday, Netanyahu said, “The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds.”
“We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and vicious violation of the agreement,” he added.
The prime minister said a “Gazan woman,” not Shiri or any other hostage, was in the coffin.
He also stated that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were “murdered with terrible cruelty while in Hamas captivity.”
Hamas has claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early months of the war in Gaza, though no evidence has been provided to support this.
Ismail al-Thawabta, a Hamas spokesman, described the incident as a mistake, saying Shiri Bibas’ remains had been mixed with those of other people who died when a building was struck.
He said Netanyhau “is the one who bears full responsibility for killing her and her children in a horrific and brutal manner.”
The children’s father, Yarden Bibas, 34, was released alive by Hamas on February 1. All four members of the family were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it was “horrified and devastated” by the news that Shiri was not returned, “despite the agreement and our desperate hopes.”
“To the world, we say: Do not look away. In Hamas’ hell in Gaza, 70 more of our children, brothers, sisters, and parents remain in captivity, enduring unimaginable terror. Do not abandon them to their fate. Save them from this nightmare,” a statement said.
Six more living hostages are to be freed by Hamas on Saturday, in the last round of releases under the initial six-week phase of the ceasefire agreement that went into effect on January 19.
The final step in the first phase of the agreement will be the handover of four more bodies of hostages next week.
But the latest developments involving the Bibas family have cast doubt on the process.
In Berlin, the German government slammed Hamas over the “unbelievable perfidy and the unbelievable repulsiveness” on display when handing over the remains of Israeli hostages a day earlier.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin said on Friday that it was hard to imagine “the hell that the family and relatives are going through right now.”
Hamas set up a stage at Thursday’s handover site, and numerous cheering onlookers gathered alongside hooded and masked militants in uniform.
Four black coffins were displayed on the stage, with a backdrop depicting Netanyahu as a bloodied vampire hovering over images of the four deceased hostages.