Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas militants of violating the ceasefire deal by handing over the body of a woman from Gaza instead of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, the mother of two young boys whose bodies were returned a day earlier along with a hostage in his 80s.
Hamas will “pay the full price” for the action, Netanyahu said in a statement Friday.
The militant group says the four hostages were killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023 and the bodies could have been misidentified because of bombardments in the area.
Hamas insists it is sticking to the truce deal and “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.”
The tenuous ceasefire in Gaza began on Jan. 19 and the first phase ends in early March. Palestinians in Gaza and the families of Israeli hostages are afraid the deal may not stretch into a planned second stage, under which Hamas is supposed to return the remaining hostages in exchange for Israel ending the war.
Here’s the latest:
Saudi Arabia hosts meeting of Arab leaders
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has held a meeting of leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Egypt and Jordan.
The meeting hosted by Mohammed bin Salman on Friday had been described as “an informal brotherly gathering” by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It comes ahead of an Arab League summit likely to discuss the Gaza Strip after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed America “take over” the territory and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents, a plan that Arab countries have universally rejected.
Authorities released a single still image showing those who attended. They included Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad, United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Kuwait’s ruling emir, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and his son, Crown Prince Hussein, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Not in attendance from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six Gulf Arab nations, was Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.
Israel claims Gaza militants killed young hostages ‘with their bare hands’
Israel’s military spokesperson said Friday that militants in Gaza killed two young hostages “with their bare hands,” without providing evidence for the claim, a day after the boys’ remains were returned to Israel.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, in a live statement, alleged that forensic analysis of the Bibas boys’ remains showed that militants “did not shoot the boys,” but “killed them with their bare hands,” adding that militants had then “committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
Hagari also said the fourth set of remains released Thursday, Oded Lifshitz, was killed by his militant captors inside Gaza.
Hamas claims Lifshitz, the boys Kfir and Ariel, and their mother Shiri were killed in an Israeli airstrike. It too has not provided evidence to support this allegation.
Hamas will be punished for returning an anonymous woman’s body instead of a hostage, Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Hamas would “pay the full price” for allegedly handing over the body of a Palestinian woman from Gaza instead of an Israeli hostage’s remains.
Hamas militants turned over four bodies on Thursday, and says the deceased hostages were killed by an Israeli airstrike that also killed their guards.
The Israeli military said it had positively identified the remains of two young hostages, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, along with Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023.
However, Netanyahu reiterated the Israeli claim that the fourth coffin did not contain the boys’ mother, Shiri Bibas, nor any other hostage.
“We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said.
“The sacred memory of Oded Lifshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. May God avenge their blood. And so we will avenge,” he added.
Aunt of Bibas boys says there’s been no apology from Netanyahu
The aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the youngest Israeli hostages whose remains were returned to Israel on Thursday, said that Netanyahu has not apologized yet to the family after the body of the boys’ mother was not among those returned.
“For Ariel and Kfir’s sake, and for Yarden’s sake, we are not seeking revenge right now. We are asking for Shiri,” said Ofri Bibas Levy, the sister of Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father, who was released alive during an earlier swap.
Israeli authorities said they had identified the remains of the two boys but that Hamas had returned the body of a Palestinian woman rather than that of the boys’ mother, Shiri, as was promised.
Netanyahu in response vowed that he would “not rest” until those who killed the three were “brought to justice.”
Hostage families are terrified that the deal may not stretch into the planned second stage, under which Hamas is supposed to return the remainder of the hostages in exchange for Israel ending the war.
Hamas announces names of 6 living hostages to be freed on Saturday
Hamas has released the names of the six living hostages the militants plan to release on Saturday under the terms of the ceasefire. The Palestinian prisoners media office said over 600 Palestinians are also to be freed from Israeli prisons.
The announcements are a sign the fragile deal remains on track despite the tensions following revelations overnight that hostage Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned to Israel as promised by Hamas.
Hamas said it would release Omer Wenkert, 23; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Avera Mengistu, 39; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36; Tal Shoham, 40, and Eliya Cohen, 27, on Saturday.
Two of the men, Mengistu and Al-Sayed, are civilians who are mentally ill and who have been held since long before the war, after entering Gaza on their own over a decade ago.
Israel confirmed receiving the list. It did not confirm the six names, which were confirmed earlier in the week by the Hostages and Missing Families forum, the group representing hostage families.
Of the Palestinian prisoners due to be released, 50 have been sentenced to life imprisonment and 60 were serving long prison sentences. Also due for release are 445 prisoners from Gaza, held by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli defense minister orders troops to ramp up operation in West Bank after bus explosions in Israel
Israel’s defense minister said Friday he has ordered the country’s military to ramp up its operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after a series of bus explosions near Tel Aviv the previous day.
Defense Minister Israel Katz called the explosions on three buses in central Israel a “terror attack.” No injuries were reported.
Visiting Tulkarem refugee camp, a militant stronghold, Katz said he had told troops to “intensify its activities” until “terrorism is defeated.”
“I want to convey a clear message from here to the terrorists and their senders: Yesterday’s serious attempted attack against a civilian population will not deter us,” he said.
On Friday, an Israeli court imposed a gag order on the reporting of any details related to the investigation or information that could reveal the identities of the suspects in Thursday’s bus bombings.
A group identifying itself as a branch of Hamas’ military wing, Qassam Brigades, from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, stopped short of taking responsibility for the attack Thursday but posted on messaging app Telegram: “We will never forget to take vengeance for our martyrs as long as the occupation is on our lands.”
Israel’s largescale operation in the West Bank, which it launched directly after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza, has wreaked widespread damage, killed over 50 Palestinians, caused thousands to flee their homes and ripped up roads and infrastructure in refugee camps.
Under the ceasefire deal’s first phase, Israel is releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Katz on Friday warned prisoners released under the terms of the deal: “We are keeping an open eye on you and any involvement by any of you in carrying out or directing terrorism will immediately cost you the heaviest price.”
Hamas says it has no interest in withholding any bodies
Hamas says it will “conduct a thorough review” of Israeli claims that a body it handed over Thursday as part of a ceasefire deal was not that of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas.
The group insisted it has adhered to all terms of the deal and “has no interest in withholding any bodies in its possession.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed revenge for what he described as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement after forensic tests showed one of four bodies handed over as part of the ceasefire was of an unidentified Palestinian woman instead of Bibas. The other three remains were identified as those of Bibas’ two young sons, and of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted.
“We have demonstrated full compliance with the agreement in recent days and remain committed to all its terms,” Hamas said.
Hamas suggested that a possible mix-up of remains may have occurred due to Israeli bombardment of the location where Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel were being held and where Palestinians were present. The militants have long maintained the mother and her children were killed in Israeli bombing.
“We reject Netanyahu’s threats, which serve only to manipulate Israeli public opinion,” Hamas said, calling on mediators to ensure the continued implementation of the ceasefire. The group also called for the return of the unidentified remains, which Israel has said is that of a Palestinian woman.