The Israeli hostages Shiri Biba’s body has returned to Israel after Hamas sent the wrong back.
The Bibas family confirmed on Saturday morning that the human remains that were returned to Israel from the war-hired gaza strip on Friday have been identified as the 32-year-old Shiri.
“Last night, our Shiri was returned home,” the family said in a statement. “After the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, we received the news this morning we had feared – our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned to her sons, husband, sister and her whole family to rest. “
A spokesman for the International Red Cross committee told ABC News on Friday night that its team “received human remains, who were then transferred to Israeli authorities.”
The Palestinian Mujahedeen brigades, a small militant group in Gaza, thought to have held Shiri and her two children, said late Friday that it had turned Shiri’s leftovers to the Red Cross, according to Associated Press.
This undated photo provided by hostages Family Forum shows Shiri Bibas, which was abducted and brought to Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Hostage family forum via AP
Shiri, her husband Yarden, 35, and their two young children Ariel, 4 and KFIR, 9 months, were abducted from their homes in southern Israel and were caught to Gaza during the Hamas-led terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. survived the trial and were released earlier this month.
Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, handed over the remains of what it said were four deceased Israeli hostages-shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas as well as 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz-Thursday as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel. After conducting a forensic analysis, Israeli officials positively identified three of the returned bodies such as the Lifshitz and the Bibas children, but said the fourth was not their mother or any other hostages. The analysis also found that Ariel and KFIR “both were brutally murdered by terrorists while held hostage in Gaza, by November 2023,” according to Israel Defense Forces.
“The terrorists didn’t shot the two young boys – they killed them with their mere hands,” IDF said in a statement Friday. “Afterwards, the terrible acts committed to cover these atrocities. This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that support the results. “
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to take “revenge” over the return of a wrong body.
Hamas has repeatedly denied Israel’s claims that it killed the Bibas family and called the allegations “nothing but pure lies” in a statement Friday. The group claims that the mother and her two young children died in an Israeli air strike.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufan, Jordana Miller and Samy Zyara contributed to this report.
