The Red Cross was given the alleged body of Shiri Bibas, according to Hamas officials and Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported. The second handover comes after Hamas gave Israel a Gazan woman’s body on Thursday, claiming it was Bibas.
In a statement, the Israeli Defense Forces said that representatives have been in contact with the Bibas family.
The body is expected to be escorted to the Forensic Medicine Institute to undergo an identification process.
The quiet handoff stands in contrast to Hamas’s public propaganda spectacle on Thursday, when the terror group paraded the unidentified body along with the corpses Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz on stage in front of cheering crowds.
Hamas said the situation with the first body was due “error or mix-up in the bodies which may have resulted from the occupation’s targeting and bombing of the location where the family was present along with other Palestinians.”
The remains of Kfir and Ariel Bibas were confirmed by Israeli officials who said a forensic assessment shows terrorists killed the young boys “with their bare hands.”
Kfir was nine-months-old when he was kidnapped, and Ariel was four. In a statement, Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Hamas’ claims that the brothers were killed in an IDF airstrike are false.
“Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood,” Hagari said. “The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys—they killed them with their bare hands.”
He added that the terrorists “committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.” According to the IDF, Hamas attempted to make the bodies appear as if an airstrike had killed them. Hagari cited the forensic findings and intelligence to support his assessment.
The IDF concluded from intelligence and from the forensic findings that Ariel and Kfir were brutally murdered in captivity in November 2023.
Hagari said the findings were shared with Israel’s global allies so “the entire world will know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates.”
“The abduction and murder in captivity of Oded, Ariel, and baby Kfir, all innocent civilians, are crimes against humanity,” Hagari said. “The whole world must condemn these barbaric acts of terror. We demand that Hamas release Shiri in accordance with the agreement.”
The Lifshitz family received final confirmation that Oded’s body had been identified only hours after he arrived for identification.
“503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end,” the family said in a statement. “We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome. Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7. Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”
The news of the death of Ariel and Kfir has sparked international outrage and brought the total number of children from Israel who have died in the fallout of the October 7 attacks to 55.
