Bodies of youngest hostages ‘to be released Thursday’: Hamas

The aunt of the two youngest Hamas hostages says the family is not giving up hope for the lives of Kfir Bibas, 2, his brother Ariel and their mother Shiri, after the terror group said it would release their bodies on Thursday.

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

The aunt of the two youngest Hamas hostages has pleaded with Israelis not to “eulogise” the boys and their mother yet, after it the terror group said it would release their bodies on Thursday.

Hopes for two-year-old Kfir Bibas. his brother Ariel, five and their mother Shiri had been fading after all the women set to be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire had been released without them.

The family said they still have no “official confirmation” of their loved ones’ deaths, and the government had not confirmed the return of their bodies this week.

But Ofri Bibas, the sister of the boys’ father Yarden, said on Facebook the family was not giving up hope the children would be released alive.

“I ask that people not eulogise my family yet,” she wrote, adding, “We’ve been hoping for 16 months, and we won’t give up now,” Ms Bibas wrote on Facebook.

Addressing calls for revenge, she said the family’s priority was the safe return of all 73 remaining hostages.

“That is the most important thing, before anything else,” she said.

Yarden Bibas was freed earlier this month, and his family says he has struggled to understand what could have happened to his sons and wife.

Shortly after his release, he said in a statement: “Sadly, my family hasn’t returned to me yet.

“They are still there. My light is still there, and as long as they’re there, everything here is dark.”

On Wednesday (AEDT), Hamas and Israel also announced a deal for the release of the remaining six living hostages set for release under the first phase of the fragile Gaza truce that took effect last month. A total of 33 were listed for release, with 19 freed so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners. Of the remaining 14, Israel says eight are dead.

Ariel and Kfir Bibas with their mother, Shiri.

Hamas “decided to release on Saturday, February 22, the remaining living (Israeli) prisoners whose release was agreed in the first phase, numbering six”, the group’s top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised address.

The group had also “decided to hand over four bodies on Thursday, among them (those of) the Bibas family”, Hayya added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office subsequently confirmed that during indirect negotiations in Cairo, “agreements were reached” for the six living hostages to be handed over on Saturday, in addition to four bodies on Thursday and four more next week.

The Bibas family said in a statement that it had been “in turmoil following (the) Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday”.

The trio were abducted, along with the boys’ father Yarden Bibas, during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, with Ariel and Kfir in particular coming to symbolise the hostages’ plight for many Israelis. Yarden was released alive during a previous hostage-prisoner exchange.

Hamas has previously said that Shiri and the children were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.

Shiri Bibas and her children Kfir and Ariel were taken hostage in the 7 October 2023 attacks.

“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family’s statement said.

The bodies due to be handed over on Thursday are the first to be returned to Israel by Hamas since the start of the war.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, meanwhile, published the names of the six living hostages due to be released on Saturday, saying it “welcomes with profound joy the return of Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed, and Avera Mengistu”.

Shoham’s family said it had been informed he was scheduled for release, adding: “While we are reluctantly hopeful, we remain cautious and pray that Tal will return safely.” Five Thais held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack have also been released outside the scope of the truce deal.

The truce has held despite both sides trading accusations of violations, and despite the strain placed on it by US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned plan to take control of devastated Gaza and relocate its population.

Saudi Arabia is set to host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Friday to present their own plan for Gaza’s reconstruction while ensuring that Palestinians remain on their land.

Egypt and Jordan have been floated by Mr Trump as possible destinations for displaced Gazans, though both countries have rejected the idea.

After the Saudi meeting, Egypt will host an extraordinary Arab League meeting on Gaza on March 4, with participants expected to address Mr Trump’s plan.

Israel demanded on Tuesday the “complete demilitarisation of Gaza”, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying it would “not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist groups” in the Palestinian territory.

Mr Saar also said Israel would begin negotiations “this week” on the second phase of the truce, which aims to lay out a more permanent end to the war. Phase one is due to expire on March 1.

Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza conflict, said on Tuesday that Palestinians must decide the territory’s future.

“It is a Palestinian question on who represents the Palestinians in an official capacity and also the political groups and parties in the political sphere,” said foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,291 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP