TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military said Friday it had positively identified the remains of two young hostages, but a third body released by Hamas under a ceasefire deal was not the boys’ mother as the militant group had promised.
The revelation was a shocking twist in the saga surrounding the Bibas family, who have become global symbols of the plight of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and threw the future of the fragile ceasefire into question.
“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the army said in a statement.
During the monthlong ceasefire, Hamas has been releasing living hostages in exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Thursday’s release marked the first time the group has returned the remains of dead hostages.
Early in the day, Hamas had turned over four bodies to the Red Cross. Israel quickly confirmed one body was that of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Hamas attack that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas had said the other remains belonged to Shiri Bibas, and her two young boys, Ariel and Kfir. In an overnight announcement, the army said Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine had identified the boys, but the final set of remains did not belong to their mother. It said the remains did not match any other hostage either.
“This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” it said. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”
It said the army had notified their family, including Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and father of the two boys, who was released early this month as part of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas has claimed all four of the hostages returned Thursday were killed in Israeli airstrikes. But Israel said the testing had found the two boys and Lifshitz were killed by their captors.
Hamas did not immediately respond to Israel’s announcement that the body was not of the boys’ mother.
A top U.S. official issued a stark warning for Hamas after the Israeli military said the militant group released an “anonymous” body and not that of a slain Israeli hostage.
Speaking to CNN, U.S. envoy Adam Boehler called the Hamas decision to reportedly release the wrong body “horrific” and a “clear violation” of the ceasefire halting fighting in the Gaza Strip
“If I were them, I’d release everybody or they are going to face total annihilation,” said Boehler, who serves as the U.S. envoy for hostages.
It is now unclear whether the next scheduled swap, set for Saturday, will take place. It also is not clear whether the truce, which halted 15 months of fighting, will be extended when the current phase expires in early March.
In another potential blow to the deal, a series of explosions Thursday on three parked buses rattled central Israel.
There were no injuries and no claim of responsibility. But the Israeli military said in response it was beefing up its forces in the West Bank, raising the likelihood of further escalation in the area. Israel has been carrying out a broad military offensive in the occupied territory since the ceasefire took effect.
Outpouring of grief
The return of the remains Thursday had set off a nationwide outpouring of grief as flag-waving crowds lined highways on a rainy day to pay their respects to a convoy carrying the coffins and thousands packed a Tel Aviv square in an emotional nighttime vigil.
Many people wiped away tears and softly sang the national anthem as the caravan wound through southern Israel — a stark contrast to the celebratory return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under the tenuous ceasefire.
The handover was a grim reminder of those who died in captivity.
Militants who handed over the bodies displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza Strip surrounded by banners, including one depicting Netanyahu as a vampire. On each coffin, a photo of one of the hostages was stapled to the side.
Large numbers of masked and armed militants looked on as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles before being driven to Israeli forces. The military later held a small funeral ceremony, at the request of the families, before transferring the bodies to the forensics lab for DNA testing.
In Tel Aviv where the bodies were transported, a double rainbow unfolded across the sky just before sunset. Thousands of people gathered at the city’s Hostage Square and recited traditional mourning prayers. Some held orange balloons, in honor of the red-headed Bibas boys, and the crowd swelled after sundown as musicians performed subdued ballads, matching the nation’s grief.
“Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”
Lifshitz’s son, Yizhar, said the identification of his father had brought some closure to the family and would allow them to bury him on his kibbutz.
Infant was the youngest taken hostage
Kfir Bibas, who was 9 months old at the time, was a red-headed infant with a toothless smile when militants stormed the family’s home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother, Ariel, was 4. Video from that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the boys as militants led them into Gaza.
Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was held separately before his release.
Relatives in Israel had clung to hope, marking the boys’ birthdays. The Bibas family said it was waiting for official identification before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.
A cousin of Shiri Bibas who lives in Buenos Aires, told the local Radio Con Vos station she has been reliving the trauma of the abduction. Romina Miasnik said she hoped her loved ones “can become a symbol of something new, of coexistence, of hatred no longer having a place.”
Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife, Yocheved, who was freed early in the war as an apparent humanitarian gesture.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages, including about 30 children, in the Oct. 7 attack, in which they also killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Most of the hostages have been released or rescued, or their remains have been recovered. But Israel estimates 66 remain in captivity, roughly half of whom are still believed to be alive.
It’s not clear if the ceasefire will last
Hamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase. That will leave the militants with about 60 hostages, all men and about half believed to be dead.
Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he’s committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
Trump’s proposal to remove about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and rebuild it, which has been welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.
Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes that the war will resume.
Israel’s military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
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Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed.
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This story has been corrected to show that Yocheved Lifshitz was released early in the war, not during the ceasefire in November 2023.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Melanie Lidman, Josef Federman And Wafaa Shurafa, The Associated Press
