The director of the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Dr. Chen Kugel, announced on Saturday that the remains transferred to Israel by Hamas were positively identified as belonging to Shiri Bibas.
Two days earlier, Hamas had turned over four bodies as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel. Two of the bodies were identified as belonging to the two young Bibas children, Ariel (age 4) and Kfir (age ten months). Another body was identified as Oded Lifshitz, age 83.
The Bibas’ father, Yarden, was released in a hostage deal earlier this month.
The fourth body was positively identified as not belonging to the mother, Shiri Bibasa, or any other hostage. Hamas admitted the body was a random Palestinian woman, violating the terms of the ceasefire.
Hamas handed over the body of Shiri Bibas on Friday night. Dr. Kugel reported that there was no evidence that Shiri Bibas died in an explosion, refuting Hamas’s claims that she and her sons were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
“We identified Shiri Bibas two days after we identified her children,” Kugel said. “Our examination found no evidence of injuries caused by bombing.”
Forensic evidence revealed that the mother and her children were murdered “in cold blood” in November 2023.
“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities,” said IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari on Friday.
Hagari said that Yarden requested that the forensic conclusions be shared with the public.
“Yarden looked me in the eyes and asked that all the world know and be horrified by the manner in which they murdered his children,” Hagari said. “ “The entire world must know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates. Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then on Thursday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza. Shiri Bibas, who was meant to be returned with her children to Israel as part of the agreement, was not returned by Hamas. Hamas lied and violated the agreement.”
“The body that Hamas falsely claimed was Shiri’s was not hers, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, Hamas sent over the body of an anonymous woman. This is further evidence of Hamas’s barbaric cruelty.”
Hamas continues to deny the forensic evidence, blaming the deaths on an Israeli airstrike.
Yarden released his first public statement on Saturday:
“Thank you very much – to each and every one of you who cared, prayed, and helped my family and me,” Bibas wrote. “I appreciate it very much, and it is not taken for granted.”
The confirmation of Shiri’s death meant that terrorists murdered three generations of her family — her parents, Yossi and Margit Silberman were killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, during the attack.
The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners was delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday. It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.
Amani Sarahneh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said those slated for release include 445 individuals from Gaza who were arrested after Hamas’s October 7 attack, 60 serving long sentences, 50 serving life sentences and 47 re-arrested after a 2011 exchange for captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
On Thursday night, Hebrew media reported that seven of those who were supposed to be released outside of Israel’s borders requested to remain in prison in Israel. They were replaced with seven others from a list of those eligible for release.
Hamas is also due to release four more bodies this week, completing the first phase of the deal.
The second part of the three-stage deal calls for the release of all the remaining hostages in exchange for a “permanent end” to the war and the release of more Palestinian security prisoners. It is believed that 24 living hostages would be released in the second phase.
Sixty-seven of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas has so far released 24 hostages — 14 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals–— along with the bodies of three Israeli captives during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
