Hamas hands over bodies of 4 captives killed during Israel’s bombing of Gaza

Hamas today handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.

The bodies of Shiri Bibas, and her two children; Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz were transferred to Red Cross representatives in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the army and the Shin Bet domestic security service received caskets containing the four bodies from the Red Cross.

It said the bodies will be identified at the Health Ministry’s Abu Kabir National Centre of Forensic Medicine, after which an official notification will be given to their families.

Ahead of the handover, Hamas placed four black caskets on a stage in Khan Yunis, behind which a banner was displayed depicting Netanyahu as Dracula, the infamous vampire, positioned above images of the Bibas family and Lifshitz.

Hamas has accused the Israeli government of killing the four hostages in the deadly Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

The handover was part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, which took effect on 19 January, halting Israel’s genocidal war that has killed at least 48,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

READ: Israel killed the Bibas children, but is using the tragedy to derail Gaza ceasefire, say observers