Shiri Bibas not amongst returned hostages, Israeli army says, accusing Hamas of ‘severe violation’ | Israel-Gaza conflict

One of many 4 our bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is just not that of the hostage Shiri Bibas, Israel’s army has mentioned, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of a ceasefire deal that was already precarious.

The Israeli army confirmed that two of the our bodies belonged to Bibas’s kids, Ariel and Kfir, within the early hours of Friday. Nonetheless, it added: “In the course of the identification course of, it was decided that the extra physique acquired is just not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was discovered for another hostage. That is an nameless, unidentified physique.”

Hamas has not issued any public remark to this point on the Israeli accusation, which threatens to derail the delicate ceasefire settlement reached with US backing and with the assistance of Qatari and Egyptian mediators final month. Thursday’s launch marked the primary time the group has returned the stays of lifeless hostages.

The military mentioned it had notified the household, together with Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and father of the 2 boys, who was launched early this month as a part of the truce deal. The IDF added that intelligence and forensic findings confirmed that Bibas’s kids had been “murdered by terrorists”. Hamas had mentioned the boys and their mom have been killed in an Israeli bombing.

Bibas and her kids – who Hamas says have been killed in an Israeli airstrike within the early days of the conflict – turned a logo of the Hamas assault of seven October 2023 that ignited the conflict in Gaza. The physique of the fourth hostage has been confirmed as that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, based on his household.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, mentioned on Friday that Hamas had handed over the physique of a “Gazan lady” as an alternative of Bibas and that Israel would make Hamas pay.

“In an unimaginably cynical method, they didn’t return Shiri to her young children, the little angels, and as an alternative positioned the physique of a Gazan lady in a coffin,” Netanyahu mentioned in a video assertion. “We are going to act with willpower to carry Shiri house together with all our hostages – each dwelling and lifeless – and guarantee Hamas pays the total worth for this merciless and evil violation of the settlement.”

Morgues in Gaza started overflowing very early on within the conflict, which has killed about 48,000 folks. In the course of the preventing, lots of the lifeless have been buried in mass graves with the intention of holding dignified funerals and transferring our bodies to graveyards when the scenario was safer. About 1,200 folks have been killed on 7 October, and one other 250 taken hostage.

A high US official issued a stark warning for Hamas after the announcement from Israel that Shiri Bibas’s physique had not been returned. Talking to CNN, the US envoy Adam Boehler mentioned it was “horrific” and a “clear violation” of the truce halting preventing within the Gaza Strip. “If I have been them, I’d launch all people or they’ll face whole annihilation,” mentioned Boehler, who serves because the US envoy for hostages.

Friday’s assertion got here hours after Netanyahu ordered the army to conduct an “intense operation” in opposition to “terror hubs” within the occupied West Financial institution after a collection of explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, a metropolis exterior Tel Aviv, that authorities mentioned was a suspected terrorist assault. No accidents have been reported.

Explosives have been discovered on two different buses however didn’t detonate, police spokesperson Asi Aharoni advised Channel 13 TV. Israeli police mentioned the 5 bombs have been similar and geared up with timers, and bomb squads have been defusing the unexploded bombs.

There was no rapid declare of accountability for the explosions.

Israel has been finishing up intensified raids on the occupied West Financial institution since October 2023, killing a whole bunch of individuals . Not less than 51 Palestinians together with seven kids have been killed an a crackdown on the northern West Financial institution launched by Israel after the Gaza ceasefire went into impact on 19 January, based on the UN.

Thursday’s handover of our bodies is to be adopted by the return of six dwelling hostages on Saturday, in trade for a whole bunch extra Palestinian prisoners and detainees, anticipated to be girls and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Negotiations for a second part, anticipated to cowl the return of about 60 remaining hostages, lower than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, are anticipated to start within the coming days.

Netanyahu has long-resisted talks aimed toward ending the conflict: a lot of his far-right coalition authorities opposes such a step if it leaves Hamas as a big power contained in the strip.

Reuters and Related Press contributed to this report