JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday (Feb 21) Israel would make Hamas pay for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas as agreed.
“We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” he said in a video statement.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of acting “in an unspeakably cynical manner” by placing the body of a Gaza woman in the coffin instead of Shiri, who was kidnapped along with her two sons and her husband, Yarden, during the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
The Israeli military said on Friday that one of the bodies released by Hamas did not belong to any of the hostages held in Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating an already shaking ceasefire.
Two of the bodies were identified as infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, while a third body that was supposed to be their mother, Shiri, was found not to match with any hostage and remained unidentified, the military said.
“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organisation, which is obliged under the agreement to return four deceased hostages,” the military said, in a statement, demanding the return of Shiri and all hostages.
The family of hostage Oded Lifshitz, said in a statement that his body had been formally identified.
There was no immediate reaction from Hamas.
Netanyahu earlier vowed revenge on Hamas after the group released the remains of what it said were four hostages, including that of Kfir and Ariel, the youngest of those abducted during the Oct 7, 2023, attack.
Palestinian militants handed over four black coffins in a carefully orchestrated public display as a crowd of Palestinians and dozens of armed Hamas militants watched, creating a spectacle which was condemned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The purported remains of the boys, their mother and Lifshitz were handed over under the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
