Netanyahu vows ‘revenge’ after Israel says Hamas sent back wrong body for Shiri Bibas

LONDON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “revenge” on Friday after the Israeli military said one of the four bodies recently released by Hamas did not include a hostage.

Hamas, the militant group that governs the war-torn Gaza Strip, said it had handed over the remains of four deceased Israeli hostages on Thursday: 32-year-old Shiri Bibas; her two children — Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, 8 1/2 months; and 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz.

After conducting a forensic analysis, Israeli officials positively identified three of the returned bodies as Lifshitz and the Bibas children but said the fourth was not that of their mother nor any other hostage, according to the Israel Defense Forces, which accused Hamas of committing a “very serious violation” of the current ceasefire agreement.

“The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds,” Netanyahu said in a statement Friday. “Not only did they kidnap the father, Yarden Bibas, the young mother, Shiri, and their two small babies. In an unspeakably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri to her little children, the little angels, and they put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin.”

“We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces claimed that Hamas killed the Bibas children “with their bare hands,” denying Hamas’ claim that they were killed in an airstrike.

“Following a forensic examination, we can confirm that baby Kfir Bibas, aged just ten months old, and his older brother Ariel, aged 4, were both brutally murdered by terrorists while being held hostage in Gaza, no later than November 2023,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said Friday.

“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities,” Hagari said.

Hamas denied Israel’s claims that Hamas killed the Bibas family, calling them “nothing but pure lies,” in a statement Friday. Hamas again claimed the family was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

“It is a desperate attempt to disavow the responsibility of his criminal army for the killing of the family, because of the extent of genocide, brutal bombardment, and broad destruction of buildings and neighborhoods,” Hamas said in a statement.

There was also “additional propaganda material” found in the coffins handed over from Hamas to Israel on Thursday, according to an Israeli source.

“Israeli officials demanded from the mediators stern action against Hamas for what it says was a desecration of the sanctity of the dead,” the source said.

Hamas said it is “serious” about implementing the ceasefire agreement “but a mistake may occur, and an investigation is underway on our part,” Hamas media official Taher Al-Nono said on Al-Jazeera on Friday.

Earlier Friday, Hamas said it “will examine these claims very seriously” and “will announce the results clearly.” The group also called for the return of the body that Israel said is that of a Palestinian woman.

“We point out the possibility of an error or overlap in the bodies, which may be the result of the occupation targeting and bombing the place where the family was with other Palestinians,” Hamas added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross team said Friday night local time that it had “received human remains, which were then transferred to Israeli authorities.”

“The ICRC can not confirm any additional details,” the organization said in a statement.

The IDF, citing “the assessment of the professional authorities,” said Ariel and Kfir Bibas “were brutally murdered in captivity in November 2023 by terrorists.” Their father, 35-year-old Yarden Bibas, was also kidnapped during the Hamas-led terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but he survived and was freed earlier this month.

“Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir were taken alive by a murderous terrorist organization, and it was Israel’s responsibility and obligation to bring them back alive. There is no forgiveness for abandoning them on October 7th, and no forgiveness for abandoning them in captivity,” Ofri Bibas Levy, Yarden Bibas’ sister, said in a statement Friday.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we did not receive an apology from you in this painful moment. For Ariel and Kfir’s sake, and for Yarden’s sake, we are not seeking revenge right now. We are asking for Shiri. Save the lives of the living hostages, and return all the fallen for burial,” she said.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, director-general of Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office, said in a statement Friday that the remains of Shiri Bibas were mixed with other human remains beneath the rubble of the place where she was being held in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes “deliberately” destroyed the area, “killing her and her children.”

“Netanyahu himself is the one who issued the orders for the direct and merciless bombing, and he is the one who bears full responsibility for killing her and her children in a horrific and brutal manner,” Al-Thawabta added, noting that the Israeli military has killed more than 30,000 Palestinian women and children in Gaza since the current war began.

A spokesperson for Nir Oz, the kibbutz in southern Israel where the Bibas family were abducted from their home, issued a statement Friday apparently in response to Netanyahu vowing to “take revenge.”

“We woke up to a difficult morning,” the kibbutz spokesperson said. “At the same time, we adhere to our values and the clear demands of the Bibas family at this time: Release, not revenge.”

Hamas is expected to free another six living hostages on Saturday followed by four more bodies next week as part of the agreed terms for the first phase of the ceasefire, which began Jan. 19 and is supposed to last 42 days.

Negotiations to set the terms for the second phase have not started, but Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that mediators are pushing to have talks begin as soon as possible to allow enough time for discussion before it begins. Hamas has accused Israel of avoiding talks and says it’s ready to negotiate.