Boundless cruelty of Hamas

The civilised world must never forget or forgive the barbaric inhumanity of Hamas’s weekend release of hostages. It was terrible enough that after forensic examination of the remains of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, Israeli officials had to report “the terrorists did not shoot the two young boys – they killed them with their bare hands”, a month after their abduction on October 7, 2023. No less diabolical was the conclusion after the forensic examination of the remains of their mother, Shiri Bibas, when they were finally produced after Hamas initially delivered the body of an unknown woman, that she too was murdered in cold blood – not killed, as the terrorists had claimed, in an Israeli airstrike while she was in captivity.

In a show of grotesque cruelty, the gun-toting masked thugs also compelled two of the remaining hostages, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, to watch the handover to the Red Cross of three fellow captives. Mr Gilboa-Dalal and Mr David begged and pleaded with their captors to be set free also but Hamas devastated their hopes and those of their families by returning the young men to captivity in Gaza’s dark tunnels.

Even those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and in favour of a permanent ceasefire and peace negotiations must be ashamed of the terrorists’ actions and understand why Hamas must have no role in what happens next in Gaza. After witnessing the terrorists’ depravity, Donald Trump’s new UN ambassador, Elise Stefanik, hit the nail on the head: “Hamas’s evil knows no bounds … this is a war between good and evil.” For Israel, recovery of all the hostages is a sacred mission. Eliminating Hamas is also a top priority.