‘Agonising’: Hostage families accuse Israel of abandoning them

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been accused of ‘shameful’ treatment of the families of Hamas’s hostages, with one family saying they had been left in ‘agonising uncertainty’ over their loved one’s fate.

Ariel and Kfir Bibas with their mother, Shiri.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been accused of “shameful” treatment of the families of Hamas’s hostages, with one family saying the Prime Minister had “abandoned” them.

Hours before Hamas was due to release the bodies of the two youngest hostages and their mother, along with an elderly journalist, the children’s aunt attacked Mr Netanyahu’s office for publishing their identities without the family’s approval, while the nephew of a captive whose body is slated for release next week said his family had been left in “agonising uncertainty” of their loved one’s fate.

On Tuesday, Hamas said it would this week hand over the bodies of toddler Kfir Bibas, 2, his brother Ariel, 5, and their mother Shiri, along with 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz – as part of the ongoing first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal. But the government did not confirm the names, leaving the prisoners’ families still unsure whether they were dead or alive.

Hamas also agreed to free on Saturday the remaining six living hostages: Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu, Tal Shoham and Omer Shem-Tov.

But a relative of a hostage who is on neither list said his family had been left in the dark over his status.

The last four dead captives included in the first phase of the ceasefire are Shlomo Mantzur, Itzik Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Tsahi Idan.

However with the IDF confirming only Mr Mantzur’s death, Mr Elgarat’s nephew said his family had been left with “agonising” uncertainty.

“Only from the media do we know that four hostages who aren’t alive are meant to return tomorrow,” Mor Elgara told Israel’s Ynet news site.

“They said who the six living ones are, and we are forced to conclude things,” he said. “We are given scraps. What should we be preparing for and how? What will happen and when?

“Not speaking with your people is simply abandonment. What are they trying to do, make the fallen hostages disappear?”

He added: “We’ve become objects, not people.”

Earlier, after a hostage families’ campaign group confirmed the bodies of the Bibas family and Mr Lifshitz would be handed over on Thursday, Mrs Bibas’s sister-in-law attacked the government for never giving the family “certainty” about their loved one’s status.

“For 16 months, we have been waiting for certainty that they couldn’t provide us, and now it’s being decided before they’re even here?? Before they’ve undergone identification?? Before we’ve been officially informed?” Ofri Bibas wrote on Facebook.

“The entire country has turned into casualty officers, knocking on our door.

“Shameful.”

She added: “The list that has already declared Ariel and Kfir as fallen, which was published by the Prime Minister’s Office, supposedly with the families’ approval, was never approved by us.”

As the family’s fury threatened to overtake the country’s quiet relief at the return of the first hostages’ bodies, the Israeli Military Forces accepted the blame for releasing the names, while Benjamin Netanyahu’s office apologised for the “grave mistake.”

Mr Netanyahu pleaded for the bodies to be handed over with “dignity,” describing the day as “a day of grief.”

In a statement, the military admitted: “The IDF is responsible for communicating with the families of the hostages. The IDF investigated the matter and spoke with the families. We regret the mistake that was made in good faith vis-a-vis the families, as well as the emotional distress caused.”

While the Bibas family’s deaths have been largely accepted as fact abroad – after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike last November – Israel has not confirmed the claim until now despite repeated pleas from the family to confirm their status.

Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, 2023 and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.

Mr Bibas had been tormented by his captors throughout his captivity with conflicting stories about his family. First they told him that his wife and boys were alive in Tel Aviv before, cruelly, telling him they’d been killed in an IDF strike – and forcing another hostage to film him as he collapsed in grief.

After his release he continued to cling to the hope that his little family was alive. “Sadly, my family hasn’t ­returned to me yet,” he said after his release. “They are still there. My light is still there, and as long as they’re there, everything here is dark.”

Amid growing anger at what many Israelis are calling the Bibas family’s “murder,” most are concerned at the effect the final confirmation of his children’s and wife’s deaths will have on Mr Bibas.

Kira Dan Or, a parenting consultant, told Israeli media: “Poor Yarden, there is no consolation, no closure in this. He will never know what fate befell them, how they died,” she said. “He’ll be left with questions for the rest of his life. And what kind of life will that be?”