Hamas has been condemned for parading the coffins of hostages in Gaza, with the United Nations rights chief saying the ‘abhorrent’ treatment of the October 7 attack victims ‘flies in the face of international law.’
Israelis are mourning the youngest hostages – baby Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel – as well as their mother Shiri and elderly captive Oded Lifshitz, whose bodies are believed to have been inside the caskets.
The four coffins were displayed to crowds in front of disturbing propaganda posters before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by armed Hamas fighters.
They were then transferred to the Israeli military inside Gaza, where they were checked and draped in Israeli flags, before being driven across the border into Israel. They were welcomed home by flag-waving Israelis, who lined the convoy’s route.
Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed fighters, had gathered at the site in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, to watch the chilling handover ceremony, filming, cheering and waving banners.
One poster on display depicted a man standing over coffins wrapped in Israeli flags. It read ‘The Return of the War = The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins’ – an overt threat to Israel from Hamas that the ceasefire must hold.
Alongside the coffins, Hamas displayed mock munitions labelled ‘They were killed by USA bombs’ and a poster depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire – all part of Hamas’ message that Israel was to blame for the hostages’ deaths.
Condemning the horrific scenes, UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement that ‘under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families.’
Palestinian Hamas fighters and people gather at the site where the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages took place in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 20, 2025
A Hamas terrorist stands over four coffins, said to hold the bodies of the four hostages
Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on the day the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas were released by Hamas
The Bibas family – father Yarden, mother Shiri, baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel – were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Nir Oz kibbutz
This undated photo provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum shows Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz who was abducted and brought to Gaza on October 7, 2023
The convoy carrying the coffins of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv
Israelis gathered near the National Forensic Institute, where the identification process is set to be carried out after Hamas handed over the bodies of 4 Israeli hostages
IDF officers carry one of the coffins during the handover process, as the bodies of hostages were returned to Israel
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock described the images of the handover as ‘almost unbearable,’ adding that the hostage’s families had been ‘exposed to the limitless terror of Hamas until the end.’
The Bibas family’s plight has come to embody the country’s agony over the October 7 attack, and many of those who gathered in Tel Aviv to pay their respects wore orange in solidarity with them – a reference to two boys’ red hair.
On Wednesday the Red Cross called for privacy and dignity for the deceased, saying in a statement: ‘We must be clear: any degrading treatment during release operations is unacceptable.’
At just nine months old, baby Kfir was the youngest captive seized by Palestinian terrorists in the October 7 terror attacks. He was taken alongside his mother Shiri, and then-four-year-old brother Ariel.
Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, was kidnapped separately and released this month after 16 months in captivity, having been told by Hamas that his wife and children were dead.
Hamas has said that all three were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war, but did not provide evidence. Their deaths were confirmed by The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel last night but have not been officially confirmed by Israel.
The body of Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist who was aged 83 when he and his wife were taken from their home in Nir Oz, is also believed to be among those released.
Immediately after the handover, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog summed up the feeling in his country. ‘Agony. Pain. There are no words,’ he said on X. ‘Our hearts – the hearts of an entire nation – lie in tatters.’
The families have now been informed that four bodies have been received, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed today, adding: ‘Our hearts go out to them at this difficult time.’
The Bibas family’s plight has come to embody the country’s agony over the October 7 attack
Israelis could not hide their emotions as they anticipated the arrival of the deceased hostages in Tel Aviv
IDF officers salute by the coffins after receiving the bodies of the Hamas hostages during the handover process
An Israeli army convoy transporting the bodies has crossed the border from Gaza into Israel
Crowds of Hamas fighters and civilians watch on as the coffin of one of the hostages is carried to a waiting Red Cross vehicle
The black coffins had pictures of the children and their mother plastered on, with Netanyahu also pictured in a disturbing propaganda display
The Red Cross convoy headed back to Israel, where authorities will carry out the formal identification of the remains
Thousands of people, including civilians and large numbers of masked and armed fighters from Hamas and other factions, gathered at the site, where large banners had been set up
A representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is seen alongside masked Hamas members during the handover process
Red Cross vehicles arrived at the scene, with Hamas fighters then carrying the coffins over to staffers in red vests, who covered them in white sheets before placing them inside.
The Red Cross convoy headed back to Israel, where authorities will carry out the formal identification of the remains using DNA, expected to take up to two days. Only then will the families be given the final notification.
The Israeli Defence Forces confirmed that the Red Cross had notified them that the bodies of four hostages were handed over by Hamas.
The Red Cross was expected to bring them to IDF and Shin Bet forces inside Gaza, where a brief military ceremony will be held before their return to Israel.
The process of identifying the bodies later today at the Abu Kabir forensic institute is intended not only to identify the hostages but also to establish the cause of death, if possible, Israel’s Health Minister Uriel Busso reportedly said.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog shared a statement during the handover in which he asked for forgiveness from the four Israeli hostages for not protecting them or bringing them back alive.
‘On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.’
‘The heart of an entire nation breaks,’ Netanyahu said last night. Speaking in a brief video statement, he said that Thursday would be ‘a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief.’
Shiri Bibas, 32, appears distraught as she clutches both of her young sons during their abduction by Hamas on October 7, 2023
In Tel Aviv, scores of Israeli flags were raised as a few people joined together in a sombre gathering to mourn the hostages ahead of their return to Israel.
Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a shaky ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war.
But the handover on Thursday will provide a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.
It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.
Kfir Bibas, a red-headed infant with a toothless smile, became a symbol of the fight to get Israel’s hostages in Gaza returned home after their abduction on October 7, 2023.
Video shot that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling her two boys as terrorists led them into the enclave.
Relatives in Israel have clung to hope, marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays and his brother’s fifth.
The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it would wait for ‘identification procedures’ before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.
Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.
A woman cries as she stands among Israeli flags in hostages square prior the handover of the bodies of four hostages who were taken by Hamas fighters on February 20
In Tel Aviv, scores of Israeli flags were raised as a few people joined together in a sombre gathering to mourn the hostages ahead of their return to Israel
A woman is overcome with emotion as the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children, are handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza
Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 hostages, including some 30 children, in the October 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.
Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 hostages, including some 30 children, in the October 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Shiri Bibas, 32, appears distraught as she clutches both of her young sons during their abduction by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Hamas fighters, including an armed child, watch on as the handover process was carried out on Thursday
A Palestinian man with a child looks on as Hamas fighters stand guard on the day the group hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas and her children Kfir and Ariel Bibas
Palestinian children gather as Hamas militants stand guard on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas
Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, stand guard as they await the handover
Hamas fighters stand guard near the site where the handover took place on Thursday
More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.
Hamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week, completing the ceasefire’s first phase.
That will leave the terrorists with some 60 hostages, all men, around half of whom are believed to be dead.
Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he is committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
A group representing the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 has tragically confirmed that Kfir Bibas is dead
Ariel Bibas was four when he was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack
Yarden Bibas is pictured together with his sister and father aboard a military helicopter on their way to Sheba hospital in Ramat Gan on February 1, 2025
Shiri Bibas holding her son Kfir. The pair, and her other son Ariel, have been confirmed dead
Trump’s proposal to remove some two million Palestinians from Gaza so the US can own and rebuild it, which has been embraced by Israel but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.
Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes the war will resume with the goal of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gaza’s population.
Israel’s military offensive killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to fields of rubble and bombed-out buildings.
At its height, the war displaced 90 per cent of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
