Militants hand over body of Israeli mother Shiri Bibas; Hamas frees 6 more hostages
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JERUSALEM — A hostage’s body hastily released by Palestinian militants was confirmed to be that of Shiri Bibas, the Israeli mother whose two young sons also died in captivity, her family said Saturday. Also Saturday, six live hostages were freed, but Israel delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners over objections about hostages being paraded in front of militants.
Israel’s announcement abruptly put the future of the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas into further doubt, as did the delayed release of Bibas’ remains.
The militant group had said Bibas’ remains were returned to Israel with those of her sons, Ariel and Kfir, and another hostage Thursday. Testing confirmed the identities of the three others but found the remains said to be Bibas were those of an unidentified Palestinian woman.
Israel said its tests determined that the hostages had been killed by their captors. Hamas has said they were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of a “cruel and malicious violation” of the cease-fire and vowed revenge.
With tensions rising, Palestinian militants late Friday said they turned over the correct set of remains to the Red Cross, which sent them to Israel for testing. The identification was confirmed early Saturday.
“For 16 months we sought certainty, and now that it’s here, it brings no comfort, though we hope it marks the beginning of closure,” the Bibas family said.
Hamas on Saturday released the last six living hostages expected under the first phase of the cease-fire with a week remaining, as questions over the next phase clouded the deal’s future. The release of Palestinian prisoners was delayed without explanation.
The hostages released included three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another abducted while visiting his family in southern Israel when militants stormed across the border in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 in Israel and ignited the war. Two of the hostages had been held by Hamas for around a decade since they each entered Gaza on their own.
Five were handed over in staged ceremonies that the Red Cross, U.N. and Israel have condemned as cruel and disrespectful, escorted by masked, armed Hamas fighters in front of hundreds of Palestinians.
Hostages freed from Gaza confront a flood of information about loved ones and destroyed communities, figuring out their place in a changed world.
In the central town of Nuseirat, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen were posed alongside Hamas fighters. Shem Tov, acting under duress, kissed two militants on the head and blew kisses to the crowd. They wore fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when abducted.
“You’re heroes,” Shem Tov told his parents as they later embraced, laughing and crying. “You have no idea how much I dreamt of you.” His father, Malki Shem Tov, told public broadcaster Kan his son was held alone after the first 50 days and lost 37 pounds.
Earlier Saturday, two other hostages — Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38 — were freed. Mengistu, an Ethiopian Israeli, entered Gaza in 2014. His family told Israeli media he has struggled with mental health issues. The Israeli Austrian Shoham was taken from Kibbutz Beeri. His wife and two children were freed in a 2023 exchange.
The Israeli military said the final hostage, Hisham al-Sayed, 36, was released later Saturday. The Bedouin Israeli had been held since crossing on his own into Gaza in 2015. His family has told Israeli media Al-Sayed was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The Beilinson hospital said Wenkert, Cohen, Shoham and Shem Tov had an “extremely difficult period in captivity” but did not give details at the families’ request.
Niva Wenkert, Omer’s mother, told Israel’s Channel 12 that “on the surface, he looks OK, but there’s no telling what’s inside.”
“This is an unforgettable moment, where all emotions are rapidly mixing together,” Shoham’s family said, and called for a deal to free all still held.
A Palestinian woman who lost 10 children and her husband shelters in her shattered Gaza home, where four of her youngest remain buried under rubble.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the release of 620 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, expected just after hostages were freed Saturday, was delayed “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza. Early Sunday, vehicles apparently carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison, only to turn around and go back in.
It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza cease-fire’s first phase.
The Israeli statement cited “ceremonies that demean the dignity of our hostages and the cynical use of the hostages for propaganda purposes.” It was likely a reference to a Hamas video showing two hostages who have yet to be released watching a handover in Gaza on Saturday and speaking under duress.
The prisoners to be released include 151 who were serving life or other sentences, around 100 of whom will be deported to other countries, according to the Palestinian prisoners media office. They also include 445 men as well as 18 children between the ages of 15 and 17, five between 18 and 19, and a woman, all of whom were seized by Israeli troops in Gaza during the current war, according to the media office.
The cease-fire deal has paused the deadliest and most devastating fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, but there are fears the war will resume after the first phase ends.
Hamas has said it would release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase. If that plan is carried out, Hamas would retain about 60 hostages, about half of whom are believed to be alive.
Negotiations over a second phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in exchange for a lasting cease-fire and an Israeli withdrawal, are likely to be even more difficult.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
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