Hamas fighters lined up behind black coffins on a stage in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis before handing over the bodies of four dead Israeli captives to the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of the prisoner exchange in the ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US, which went into effect on 19 January. 

The coffins held the remains of Shiri Bibas, her two children Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when captured on 7 October 2023.

Hamas emphasized that it had preserved the lives of the Israeli captives in the strip, 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, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahu.

"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.”

The Palestinian group reaffirmed that captive-prisoner exchange is the only way to ensure the safe return of captives.

It also warned that any attempt to return the remaining captives by force or through resuming the war would only result in further losses

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