Hamas hands over bodies of four hostages, including two children, as ceasefire future is negotiated

BarcelonaHamas on Thursday handed over to the Red Cross the bodies of four Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023, as second phase of fragile Gaza ceasefire is negotiated. The bodies are those of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Kifr and Ariel, who were 9 months and 4 years old when they were abducted. The fourth is Oded Lifshitz, an 83-year-old pacifist and husband of Yocheved Lifshitz, who since her release last year has been one of the most prominent voices calling for a ceasefire. Hamas said in November last year that the woman and children had been killed in an Israeli bombardment, although Tel Aviv has not confirmed this. The family is a symbol of the Israeli trauma of the Palestinian attack and also of the price for the hostages of the Netanyahu government's policy of rejecting a ceasefire to allow their release.

The handover took place in southern Gaza, in Khan Younis — which the Israeli army raided to make it the operations centre for the invasion of southern Gaza — with a strong deployment of armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. It is the first return of deceased hostages, and Israel is not expected to confirm their identities until DNA tests have been carried out. The coffins were unveiled on a stage with a banner depicting a caricature of Netanyahu as a bloodied vampire with images of the dead beneath.

The black coffins were transported in Red Cross vehicles and handed over to the Israeli army inside Gaza, which took them to the National Forensic Institute, where they must be identified, a process that can take hours or days. The convoy passed in front of Nir Oz's kibbutz, which was his home. Nir Oz was one of the Israeli communities with the most victims in the Palestinian attack on October 7. The father, Yarden Bibas, was also kidnapped and was released in the hostage-for-Palestinian prisoner exchanges that month. There will be no Palestinian releases today.

The president asks for forgiveness

The day is one of high political tension in Israel. Israeli political scientist Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera that "these creatures have become a symbol of the stupidity of the Israeli government, of its lack of respect for Jewish values." "Now the question is how do we stop the sacrifice of more innocent creatures in this war," Eldar said.

According to has investigated the Israeli pressHamas offered to return the bodies of hostages killed in Israeli bombing in November 2023, but the Israeli government refused.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog himself has asked for forgiveness. "On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Sorry for not protecting you on that terrible day. Sorry for not bringing you home safely," he wrote on the X platform.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, said all Israelis were "united in unbearable grief" and vowed to hold Hamas "accountable." "The voice of the blood of our loved ones cries out to us from the ground. It forces us to come to terms with the vile murderers, and we will hold them accountable," he said in a video, after Oded Lifshitz's family confirmed that one of the bodies was that of the man.

More releases this weekend

The ceasefire is very fragile and is due to continue on Saturday with the release of six more hostages in exchange for 500 Palestinian prisoners, most of them women and children, detained by the Israeli army in Gaza in the current offensive. Hamas brought forward the release of the bodies on Thursday and used it to make another show of force, while maintaining its commitment to the ceasefire. So far, they have released 19 hostages out of the 33 planned, but the key is what will happen on March 1, when the second phase of the ceasefire is due to come into effect, which provides for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas has offered to suddenly release the 60 hostages who are due to be returned in the second phase if Israel agrees to the permanent truce. Netanyahu's far-right ministers are pressuring him to abandon the agreement, although the ceasefire is supported by the majority of the population. For their part, US President Donald Trump defends the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, an ethnic cleansing that dynamites the possibility of an agreement. On February 27, an Arab League summit has been convened in Cairo where the Arab countries are supposed to present their plan in response to the White House.