Israel confirms Shiri Bibas’ body has FINALLY been returned home after Hamas’ vile ‘mix up’ as more hostages to be freed

Israel confirms Shiri Bibas’ body has FINALLY been returned home after Hamas’ vile ‘mix up’ as more hostages to be freed
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Israel confirms Shiri Bibas’ body has FINALLY been returned home after Hamas’ vile ‘mix up’ as more hostages to be freed
Author: Annabel Bate
Published: Feb, 21 2025 20:50

THE body of Shiri Bibas has finally been returned home, Israel has confirmed. It took Hamas terrorists two attempts to correctly return the mum's body back to her loved ones after sending the wrong remains in a vile mix up. Shiri's body was released overnight, and Israel’s army radio confirmed it had been identified.

 [Woman holding a baby.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Woman holding a baby.]

The station reported that Bibas was likely killed while in captivity alongside her two young sons — four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir. Shiri's remains were handed over just hours before Hamas is set to release six more hostages on Saturday.

 [Family portrait of a couple with their two young children.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Family portrait of a couple with their two young children.]

The six are said to be the last living hostages Hamas will release during the first phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement. They are Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed, and Avera Mengistu, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

 [Men in military uniforms carry a coffin.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Men in military uniforms carry a coffin.]

The Red Cross collected a body from the Gaza Strip that Hamas claimed is Shiri, two officials told The Times of Israel on Friday. The remains were passed to the IDF who reportedly took them to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for identification. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardwai told Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television that this body is the right one, in a humiliating statement for the terror group.

 [Released hostages at a ceasefire event in Rafah, Gaza.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Released hostages at a ceasefire event in Rafah, Gaza.]

It's the second attempt Hamas have had at handing over Shiri's body after it returned the bodies of her two boys in a sick parade. Hours after the initial twisted handover ceremony on Thursday, the IDF announced they couldn't identify the body as Shiri's.

 [Hamas fighters in Rafah, Gaza, stand before a large banner depicting military actions and leaders.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Hamas fighters in Rafah, Gaza, stand before a large banner depicting military actions and leaders.]

In turn, Hamas said it was investigating a "mistake" in identifying the human remains. A Hamas senior official Ismail al-Thawabteh said Shiri's body was “turned into pieces” in an Israeli airstrike - which Israel vehemently denies ever took place - and may have been “mixed with other bodies under the rubble”.

 [Collage of six Israeli hostages released from the Gaza Strip.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Collage of six Israeli hostages released from the Gaza Strip.]

A statement by Hamas said the group was dealing with the claims with "complete seriousness" and it would announce the results "clearly". A member of Hamas's political bureau, Basem Naim, blamed "unfortunate mistakes" adding that Hamas has no interest in keeping any bodies or not to abide by the signed agreements.

 [Protestors in Tel Aviv hold Israeli flags and wait for the release of hostages.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Protestors in Tel Aviv hold Israeli flags and wait for the release of hostages.]

They claimed that the casket which Hamas said belonged to the mum actually contained "an anonymous, unidentified" person with "no match" found for any other hostage. The harrowing statement from the IDF added that it was a "violation of utmost severity" by Hamas.

 [Family in Batman pajamas.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Family in Batman pajamas.]

They demanded the terror group "return Shiri home along with all our hostages" immediately. The heinous move by the terror group to allegedly lie about the handover has been widely condemned. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as an "unspeakable" act which shows "the cruelty of the Hamas monsters know no bounds".

 [Woman holding two young children and crying.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Woman holding two young children and crying.]

He added in a video statement: "We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages - both living and dead - and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.". Netanyahu also claimed the body handed over at the twisted parade on Thursday morning belonged to an unknown Gazan woman.

 [Four caskets with photos of victims and their families displayed in front of a large photo of the family.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Four caskets with photos of victims and their families displayed in front of a large photo of the family.]

Hamas reportedly attempted to explain their way out of the fury by claiming the remains belonged to the mum as well as a mixture of other human remnants. A Hamas official told AFP they are investigating the "mistake". Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon quickly slammed the Palestinian militants as he said they treated the coffin like a "worthless shipment”.

 [Benjamin Netanyahu speaking.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Benjamin Netanyahu speaking.]

“This is a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel,” he said in a statement. “There are no words that can describe such an atrocity.”. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the killing of the two children, which Hamas denies, and the failure to return Shiri's body was "sick".

 [Smiling baby holding a pink stuffed animal.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Smiling baby holding a pink stuffed animal.]

"The vile killing of the Bibas children by Hamas terrorists is sick and abhorrent, as is the failure to return the body of their mother Shiri to the grieving family," the Foreign Secretary posted on X. "Her body must be returned. The hostages must be released. This nightmare must end.".

 [Young boy playing with a toy.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Young boy playing with a toy.]

US president Donald Trump’s envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, said the stunt now puts the ceasefire deal into serious jeopardy. He warned Hamas must release all the remaining hostages or face “total annihilation”. Shiri's despairing face as she was kidnapped while clutching her two children became a symbol for the horror of the October 7 massacre.

 [Mourners at a demonstration, surrounded by Israeli flags.]
Image Credit: The Sun [Mourners at a demonstration, surrounded by Israeli flags.]

By Nick Parker, Foreign Editor. WHAT are the cornered Hamas rats thinking when they line up the ­coffins of murdered children in front of a picture of Benjamin Netanyahu as a blood-soaked vampire?. Do they really think stunts like this will garner more support from their deluded followers, who believe Israel is the epitome of all evil?.

Do they think twisting the knife in the open wounds of an Israeli public struggling to contain its grief will weaken their enemy?. On both counts they are wrong and the more they bait and wind up Israel, the more they will come to regret it in the fullness of time.

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