Israel says body returned by Hamas not that of hostage Shiri Bibas

Sun, 23 Feb 2025

Israel says body returned by Hamas not that of hostage Shiri Bibas

Xinhua
21 Feb 2025, 07:46 GMT+10

Israel says body returned by Hamas not that of hostage Shiri Bibas

JERUSALEM, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel said on Thursday that forensic analysis had confirmed that the body it received from Hamas was not that of hostage Shiri Bibas, whose remains were supposed to be handed over along with those of her two children and another Israeli man earlier in the day.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the identification process conducted by the country's National Institute of Forensic Medicine revealed that the body was not that of any known hostage. "This is an anonymous and unidentified body," it said.

The military accused Hamas of breaching the ceasefire agreement by failing to return the remains of four hostages.

The remains of Bibas' two sons were identified. Ariel was four years old when he was killed, and Kfir Bibas was 10 months old.

The military said that "based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023."

The children were kidnapped alongside their mother from their home in kibbutz Nir Oz. Their father, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately but was released under the ceasefire agreement on Feb. 1.

Besides, the body of another hostage, Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist and peace activist, was identified earlier on Thursday.

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