Relations and forensic specialists 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 group, Kibbutz Nir Oz, additionally confirmed her identification on Saturday, simply hours earlier than the seventh captive-prisoner trade underneath the ceasefire settlement.
“After the identification course of on the Institute of Forensic Drugs, this morning we acquired the information we feared essentially the most. Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned residence to her sons, husband, sister, and all her household to relaxation,” the Bibas household stated in a press release revealed on Saturday.
Hamas had agreed handy over the our bodies of Bibas and her two younger sons Kfir and Ariel together with the stays of a fourth captive on Thursday underneath a ceasefire that has halted preventing in Gaza since final month.
Hamas stated the kids and their mom have been killed in an Israeli air assault in November 2023.
4 our bodies have been delivered, however Israel later stated one of many stays didn’t belong to the elder Bibas.
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to “make sure that Hamas pays the complete value” for what he described as a “violation” of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas later admitted “the potential of an error or mix-up of our bodies”, which it attributed to Israeli bombing of the realm that had killed a number of folks.
Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, stated “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 underneath the rubble attributable to relentless Israeli bombardments.
“We affirm that it’s not in our values or our curiosity to maintain any our bodies or to not abide by the covenants and agreements that we signal,” he stated in a press release.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza Authorities Media Workplace, stated Netanyahu “bears full accountability 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 dwelling captives are due for launch on Saturday in trade 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 start out within the coming days.
