The caskets were transported out of Gaza by the Red Cross following an elaborately staged handover in Khan Younis [Getty]
Hamas handed over the remains of four Israeli captives on Thursday – the first time the Palestinian group has released the bodies of dead hostages since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023.
The bodies are said to be Shiri Bibas, 32, and her sons Ariel and Kfir, aged four and nine months, and Oded Lifshitz, 83. The remains will undergo forensic tests to confirm their identities.
The caskets were transported out of Gaza by the Red Cross following an elaborately staged handover in Khan Younis.
The four black coffins were placed on a stage in front of a poster accusing the Israeli Air Force of killing the captives and depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a blood-soaked vampire.
“The War Criminal Netanyahu & His Nazi Army Killed Them with Missiles from Zionist Warplanes,” the poster read.
Hamas has said previously that the Bibas family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023 while Lifshitz died in a separate strike. Israeli officials have denied the claims.
In a statement on Thursday, the Palestinian group said it had treated the captives humanely and that the Israeli army was to blame for their deaths.
The handover ceremony was criticised by the UN’s human rights chief, who described the presentation of the coffins as “abhorrent and cruel”.
“Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
The Israeli military later confirmed that the convoy had entered Israel and that the bodies were being taken for testing.
The release of the bodies came two days before Hamas and Israelis were expected to complete the seventh and final prisoner swap of the ceasefire, which will see the release of six living Israeli captives in exchange for hundreds of detainees in Israeli jails.
Under the truce, Israel agreed to release almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees in return for dozens of captives held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Hamas has so far released 19 Israeli prisoners and five Thai hostages alive, in addition to the four bodies handed over on Thursday.
Around 60 prisoners are thought to remain in Gaza, though it is unclear how many of them remain alive.
How they will be released will be negotiated during talks over the second phase of the ceasefire, which was expected to start in Qatar this week.
Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining prisoners in one go in exchange for a permanent end to the war, though Israel is refusing to accept a post-war administration led by either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
