Hamas is to transfer to Israel the bodies of four hostages who have been held in Gaza since being taken alive in the group’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
It has said they include a mother and two children from the Bibas family, whose unknown fate has gripped Israel since then. The youngest child, Kfir, was nine months old.
Hamas says the fourth body is that of Oded Lifshitz, 84, a veteran peace activist.
It will mark the first time the group will have handed over dead hostages since the ceasefire began last month.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said “the heart of the entire nation is torn”, adding that Israel was dealing with “monsters”.
Six living hostages are due to be freed on Saturday.
The news – though unconfirmed by the Israeli government – that Shiri Bibas, 33, and her sons (who would now be aged five and two) are dead triggered an outpouring of grief across the country. The government says it will only confirm the names of the dead after forensic examinations.
In a statement, the Bibas family in Israel said it was “in turmoil”, adding that “until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over”.
It is unclear how the four bodies will be handed over, though the Red Cross, which has received the hostages so far released alive by Hamas, has called for a dignified handover.
“We must be clear: any degrading treatment during release operations is unacceptable,” it said in a statement on Wednesday night.
It follows widespread denunciation of the way in which Hamas has released hostages in recent weeks in staged events where they have been put on platforms in front on crowds of spectators before being handed over to the Red Cross representatives.
It is not known how Shiri, Kfir and his brother Ariel – if confirmed – died. Hamas claimed in November 2023 that they had been killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence. At the time, then-member of Israel’s war cabinet Benny Gantz said there was no confirmation of the claim.
The family were taken along with the father, Yarden, from kibbutz Nir Oz when hundreds of Hamas gunmen burst through the border with Israel and attacked communities, security forces sites and a music festival.
Yzhar Lifshitz holds a poster of his father, Oded Lifshit [Reuters]
About 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed in the attack and 251 others taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas in response, which has killed at least 48,297 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Yarden Bibas, 35, was released on 1 February along with two other hostages as part of an exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist, was also taken from Nir Oz, along with this wife, Yocheved. The eighty-five year-old woman was freed by Hamas two weeks later.
Oded Lifshitz had been held by the armed Palestinian group Islamic Jihad since 7 October 2023.
The release of hostages’ bodies was agreed as part of the ceasefire deal which came into effect on 19 January. Israel has confirmed there will be eight.
The two sides agreed to exchange 33 hostages for about 1,900 prisoners by the end of the first six weeks of the ceasefire.
Talks on progressing to the next phase of the deal – under which the remaining living hostages would be released and the war would end permanently – were due to start earlier this month but have not yet begun.
Twenty-four hostages and over 1,000 prisoners have so far been exchanged.
Seventy hostages taken on 7 October are still being held in Gaza. Three other hostages, taken over a decade ago, are also being held. About half of all the hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
