Relations and forensic consultants affirm that the brand new stays turned over by Hamas belong to the deceased Bibas.
Israel’s Bibas household has confirmed that the stays of Shiri Bibas have been returned by Hamas, a day after it introduced that the Palestinian group had returned an unidentified physique.
On Friday, Hamas launched the stays of Bibas, whose misidentification in a handover earlier prompted anger within the Israeli authorities and threatened to derail the delicate Gaza ceasefire deal.
Bibas’s neighborhood, Kibbutz Nir Oz, additionally confirmed her identification on Saturday, simply hours earlier than the seventh captive-prisoner alternate beneath the ceasefire settlement.
“After the identification course of on the Institute of Forensic Medication, this morning we acquired the information we feared essentially the most. Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned dwelling to her sons, husband, sister, and all her household to relaxation,” the Bibas household mentioned in an announcement printed on Saturday.
Hamas had agreed at hand over the our bodies of Bibas and her two younger sons Kfir and Ariel together with the stays of a fourth captive on Thursday beneath a ceasefire that has halted combating in Gaza since final month.
Hamas mentioned the youngsters and their mom have been killed in an Israeli air assault in November 2023.
4 our bodies have been delivered, however Israel later mentioned one of many stays did not belong to the elder Bibas.
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to “be certain that Hamas pays the total value” for what he described as a “violation” of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas later admitted “the opportunity of an error or mix-up of our bodies”, which it attributed to Israeli bombing of the world that had killed a number of folks.
Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, mentioned “unlucky errors” may happen, particularly as Israeli bombing had blended the our bodies of Israeli captives and Palestinians, 1000’s of whom have been nonetheless buried beneath the rubble as a consequence of relentless Israeli bombardments.
“We affirm that it isn’t in our values or our curiosity to maintain any our bodies or to not abide by the covenants and agreements that we signal,” he mentioned in an announcement.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza Authorities Media Workplace, mentioned Netanyahu “bears full duty for killing her and her youngsters”.
The incident underscored the fragility of the ceasefire deal reached with United States backing and with the assistance of Qatari and Egyptian mediators final month.
Six residing captives are due for launch on Saturday in alternate for 602 Palestinians in Israeli jail, most of whom have been detained with out cost or trial. Negotiations for the second part of the ceasefire are anticipated to begin within the coming days.
