Israel says one of the bodies handed over by Hamas does not correspond to any hostage

BarcelonaIsrael claims that one of the four bodies that Hamas handed over to it on Thursday does not correspond to any hostage. This was revealed by a forensic report, according to the Israeli army, which indicates that the alleged remains of Shiri Bibas do not match the woman. Liberman was the mother of the two minor hostages Ariel and Kfir, aged 4 years and nine months, and whose bodies - also handed over on Thursday by Hamas - have been positively identified.

"During the identification process, it has been determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas and no match has been found with any other hostage. It is an anonymous and unidentified body," says the statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Army denounces that this situation represents "a violation of the utmost gravity" of the agreement for the exchange of hostages. "We demand that Hamas return Shiri home together with all our hostages," it adds in the statement.

Apart from the alleged bodies of Bibas and his two sons - who, according to Hamas, were killed in November last year in an Israeli bombing - the Palestinian militia also handed over to the Red Cross on Thursday the body of Oded Lifshitz, an 8-year-old man who last year has been one of the most prominent voices calling for a ceasefire. The Lifshitz family has confirmed that the remains handed over do correspond to Oded's body.

The handover of the four bodies, which was the first return of deceased hostages, took place in southern Gaza, in Khan Younis, with a strong deployment of armed militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The black coffins were presented on a stage with a banner on which a caricature of Netanyahu appeared as if he were a bloody vampire with the images of the dead underneath. The bodies were transported in Red Cross vehicles and handed over to the Israeli army inside Gaza, which finally transported them to the National Forensic Institute for identification.

The fact that one of the bodies, according to the army, does not correspond to any hostage has set off alarm bells in Israel and it remains to be seen how the government of Benjamin Netanyahu reacts. 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, held by the Israeli army in Gaza in the current offensive. However, Tel Aviv has previously delayed the release of prisoners when it has considered that Hamas has breached some part of the agreement, as it did on Friday.

Meanwhile, the key date of March 1 is approaching on the horizon, 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.