KHAN YUNIS: Militants on Thursday (Feb 20) handed over the our bodies of 4 hostages taken into Gaza throughout their October 2023 assault, with Hamas saying they embody the Bibas household – symbols of Israel’s ordeal because the Gaza conflict started.
That is the primary launch of lifeless hostages underneath a fragile ceasefire, with solely residing hostages having been exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons earlier than.
The ceremony to return the our bodies of Shiri Bibas, her two younger red-headed boys – Kfir and Ariel – and a fourth captive, Oded Lifshitz, 83 on the time of his seize, befell at a former cemetery within the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Yunis.
Israel has “acquired the caskets of 4 fallen hostages”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace stated.
“Our hearts – the hearts of your complete nation – lie in tatters,” President Isaac Herzog stated in a press release after the handover. He requested “forgiveness for not defending you”.
Flag-waving Israelis stood beside the highway as a brisk wind blew close to Kissufim, southern Israel, ready for the automobiles to go following the switch by way of the Crimson Cross.
The convoy then moved onto a freeway for the drive to Tel Aviv, the place a crowd gathered at “Hostages Sq.” and lined roads elsewhere within the metropolis to greet it.
Amongst these ready was museum supervisor Tania Coen Uzzielli, 59.
“This is among the hardest days, I feel, since Oct seventh,” she stated, including that “perhaps we did not do sufficient to stop this tragedy.”
Israel’s navy stated the our bodies would “endure an identification process” on the nationwide forensic drugs institute, the place onlookers wept because the convoy arrived early within the afternoon.
Forward of the handover, Hamas and members of different armed Palestinian teams displayed 4 black coffins on a stage erected on the sandy patch of floor. A banner behind them depicted Netanyahu as a blood-stained vampire.
Every casket bore a small photograph of the deceased. White mock-up missiles close by carried the message: “They had been killed by USA bombs”, a reference to Israel’s high navy provider.
