On Thursday, in a solemn funerary ceremony in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Hamas fighters handed the remains of the four Israeli captives killed in an Israeli airstrike on the strip in November 2023 to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In a statement, Hamas emphasized that it had preserved the lives of the Israeli captives in the strip as much as possible under the round-the-clock Israel bombing of the strip for 15 months, providing shelter, food, and humane treatment.
"The enemy army killed its captives by bombing their detention sites, and its Nazi government bears responsibility for repeatedly obstructing the prisoners exchange deal,” Hamas said.
"The criminal Netanyahu sheds tears over the bodies of his captives in a blatant attempt to evade responsibility for their deaths before his public,” Hamas added.
On Friday, the Israeli military confirmed that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas's children, Ariel and Kfir. Still, it said the third did not match any known captive, calling the incident a "violation of utmost severity" of the fragile ceasefire deal.
The fourth body was identified as 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, according to his family.
Crocodile tears!
In tandem, Netanyahu warned on Friday that Hamas would "pay the full price" for failing to return Bibas's body.
In response, Hamas stated that the remains of Israeli captive Bibas were likely mixed with other bodies in the rubble of an Israeli airstrike that killed her and her children in November 2023.
The Palestinian group emphasized the need to implement all aspects of the agreed-upon three-phased ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, which has been effective since 19 January.
Hamas said it had received Israel's claims through mediators and would examine them thoroughly, promising to announce the results transparently.
"We will inform the mediators of the findings from our investigation," the group said. "At the same time, we call for the return of the body that Israel claims belongs to a Palestinian woman killed during its bombardment."
The Palestinian group suggested that any potential error or mix-up in identifying the remains could be due to Israel's bombing of the site where Bibas's family was held alongside other Palestinians.
On Thursday, after releasing the remains, Hamas stated: "We would have preferred for your children to be returned to you alive, but your leaders chose to kill them,” Hamas said in a message directed to the Bibas and Lifshitz families.
“They [the Israeli occupation forces] killed 17,881 Palestinian children with them in their criminal bombing of the Gaza Strip, and we know that you are aware as to who is truly responsible for their departure. You were a victim of a leadership that does not care about its own children.”
Ismail Al-Thawabta, a Hamas official, told Reuters that Bibas's body had been torn apart and was likely mixed with other bodies under the debris of the location, which he said was deliberately targeted by Israeli warplanes.
"Netanyahu himself issued the orders for the direct and merciless bombing," Al-Thawabta said.
"He bears full responsibility for her brutal and horrific killing, along with her children."
A Hamas official issued a similar statement to AFP earlier on Friday, saying that "it is likely Mrs. Bibas' body was mistakenly mixed with others found under the rubble."
He added that the group had informed mediators in November 2023 that it was ready to hand over the bodies of the three Bibas family members but was rebuffed by Israel.
"Mediators were informed at the time, and it was also announced in a statement when the Bibas family was killed along with their captors in an Israeli air strike," the official told AFP. '
"Hamas had offered to hand over their bodies in November 2023, but (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu refused at the time."
Hamas had previously said Bibas and her children were killed in an Israeli airstrike when Gaza's morgues were overwhelmed early in the war, forcing the use of mass graves.
More than 48,000 Palestinians and 110,000 wounded have been killed in Israel's carpet bombing of Gaza from 7 October 2023 until the ceasefire went into effect.
Thousands of Palestinians remain buried in mass graves as families wait for the removal of thousands of tons of rubble in the strip to hold proper funerals for their loved ones.
Netanyahu strikes again!
On Friday, PM Netanyahu, in a warmongering mood, ordered an "intense operation" in the occupied West Bank following explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. No injuries were reported.
Shortly after, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, Remas Amouri, in cold blood with a bullet to her abdomen.
For more than two weeks, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators have been pressuring a procrastinating Netanyahu to start negotiations on final arrangements for the end of the Gaza war as agreed upon toward the end of the first phase per the ceasefire deal.
On Saturday, Hamas will release six Israeli captives. In return, Israel will release 800 Palestinian prisoners from its jails in the seventh and last prisoner swap under the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Israel has violated the ceasefire deal on numerous occasions.
Since 19 January, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 92 Palestinians in Gaza, and Israeli authorities have put up hurdle after hurdle to the entry of rubble removal equipment and medical supplies to the strip as mandated by the ceasefire deal.
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