Sickening ceremony stuns the world

The world was stunned when Hamas handed over four bodies in a chilling ceremony overnight, now Israel has confirmed even worse news.

The Israeli military said one of the bodies released by the militant group Hamas was not that of Shiri Bibas and that it did not belong to any other hostage.

The body remained unidentified, the military said.

It said that two other bodies released had been identified as Bibas’ children, infant Kfir and his four-year-old brother, Ariel.

“According to the assessment of the relevant authorities and based on available intelligence and diagnostic indicators, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally killed in captivity in November 2023 by Palestinian terrorists,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Telegram, after Hamas said the boys were killed by an Israeli air strike early in the war.

Yarden and Shiri Bibas with their sons Kfir and Ariel. Picture: Supplied

Hamas staged a sickening handover of the four dead hostages — as thousands of grieving Israelis watched on in horror — sending shockwaves around the world.

Israelis were gathered in the Tel Aviv plaza dubbed Hostages Square on Thursday, standing or sitting in silent mourning, after Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages.

The Palestinian militants had delivered the black coffins they said contained the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two young boys, Kfir and Ariel — who became symbols of the ordeal that has gripped Israel since the Gaza war began with the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

It was the first handover of bodies by Hamas under a fragile ceasefire that has seen living hostages exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Palestinian militants carry one of the coffins.

Armed Hamas militants stand next to the coffins on stage before handing over the bodies of four Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis.

The transfer of the bodies is the first such handover of remains by Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war. Picture: Eyad BABA / AFP

For this macabre first, actors, singers and hostage relatives had gathered on the square that became a symbol of the Israeli movement to bring the hostages back home.

“In two days, we’ll receive six live hostages, and then four more bodies, it will be the end of the first phase but we’d like them all to come back”, actor Lior Ashkenazy said on stage shortly after thousands of attendees observed a minute of silence for the four deceased hostages returned on Thursday.

32-year-old mother Shiri Bibas and her children 9-month-old Kfir 4-year-old Ariel. The youngest child, baby Kfir, was the youngest hostage taken in the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Ms Bibas taken from a Go Pro filmed by a terrorist, while she was being kidnapped.

“It’s a national mourning, we feel that they (the Bibas mother and sons) are part of our family, we had hope until the last moment,” Gersende Grynszpan, 49, told AFP in Hostages Square.

“Today is an extension of October 7,” she added.

Chen Kugel, Director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, confirmed in a statement in the early evening that the body of veteran peace activist Oded Lifshitz, 83 at the time of his abduction, was among those returned.

A woman reacts as crowds gather at hostage square in Tel Aviv. Picture: Jack GUEZ / AFP

Crowds gather at hostage square in Tel Aviv, hours after the Palestinian group Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages from the Gaza Strip. Picture: Jack Guez / AFP

He said that work to identify the three other bodies was still continuing. “We received with deep sorrow the official and bitter news confirming the identification of our beloved Oded’s body,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of tearful Israelis clutching flags had lined the route of the convoy bringing the bodies of the hostages to the forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

A screen in Hostages Square showed images of those still held in the Palestinian territory against a backdrop of sombre music.

“This is one of the hardest days, I think, since October 7,” said museum manager Tania Coen Uzzielli, 59.

Fake coffins are laid on the ground during a memorial procession in solidarity with Israelis receiving bodies of deceased hostages from Gaza on February 20, 2025 in London, England. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images

“I think the feeling of personal guilt is something each of us carries — that maybe we could have done more, that maybe we didn’t do enough to prevent this tragedy.” Orange balloons symbolised the red hair of the two Bibas children, who were aged four and nine months at the time of their capture.

The family became national symbols of the despair that has gripped the nation since the Hamas attack and hostage takings.

‘Ask for forgiveness’

Footage of the Bibas family’s abduction, filmed and broadcast by Hamas during its attack, showed them being seized from their home near the Gaza border.

Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri Bibas’s husband, was abducted separately and released in a hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.

While their deaths have largely been accepted abroad as fact since Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed them early in the war, Israel had never confirmed their loss.

In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “enraged by the monsters of Hamas” and vowed to “eliminate” the Palestinian militants after they paraded the coffins in Gaza.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: Ohad Zwigenberg / POOL / AFP

The Red Cross-facilitated handover took place at a former cemetery in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis, where four caskets were shown on a stage next to armed militants.

Hundreds of Gazans had gathered to witness the ceremony.

Large numbers of armed men in military fatigues and Hamas headbands stood near the stage for the ceremony, which was carefully choreographed like previous handovers of live hostages.

Each coffin bore a small photograph of the deceased.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said: “The hearts of an entire nation lie in tatters.

“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.” Under the first phase of the ceasefire which took effect on January 19, militants have so far freed 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during their attack. Prior to Thursday’s handover, there were 70 hostages in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

Yael Adar, whose son was killed on October 7 in kibbutz Nir Oz, told the crowd in Tel Aviv he just wished for his son’s body to be returned “to end doubts on his living status”