Hamas on Friday said it handed over to the Red Cross the body of a woman that Hamas officials believe belonged to Shiri Bibas, the Israeli woman who was captured with her two young sons on October 7.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed its role in the transfer. “Tonight, at the request of the parties, an ICRC team received human remains, which were then transferred to Israeli authorities,” the ICRC said on Friday, adding, “The ICRC cannot confirm any additional details.”
The Israeli military said it was reviewing news reports of the transfer.
According to Hamas, an error led to the initial handover of the body of a Palestinian woman instead of Bibas on Thursday. Israeli officials determined the body was not that of Bibas following a DNA test. The body was originally believed to have been repatriated to Israel with those of her two children as part of a negotiated exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas source told Daily News Egypt that they believe the body returned on Friday to be that of Bibas.
According to Hamas official Ismail Al-Thawabta, the remains of Bibas were apparently mixed with other human remains among rubble following an Israeli airstrike on the location where she was being held. In a statement, Hamas indicated it would examine the Israeli claims “with complete seriousness” and announce the results clearly.
Al-Thawabta said Bibas’s body “turned into pieces, apparently after mixing with other bodies under the rubble of a place bombed intentionally and deliberately by the occupation warplanes.”
Al-Thawabta held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for the death of Bibas and her children. “Netanyahu himself issued orders for direct and ruthless bombing, and he bears full responsibility for killing her and her children in a horrific manner,” he said.
Hamas said in a statement that it received claims from mediators and would examine these claims with complete seriousness and announce the results clearly. The group pointed to “the possibility of an error or overlap in the bodies, which may be the result of the occupation targeting and bombing the place where the family was present with other Palestinians.”
Netanyahu said Friday that Israel would make Hamas pay the price for not handing over the body of Shiri Bibas. “We will work with determination to return Shiri home with all our hostages, alive and dead, and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” he said in a filmed statement.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of acting “in an indescribably malicious way.”
According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Kan), the Israeli army said, “The process of identifying the abductees whose bodies were returned to Israel on Thursday as part of the exchange deal with Hamas has been completed, after examination at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.”
The three-phase ceasefire agreement in Gaza entered into force in 19 January, at 8:30 am local time.
