Gaza, Feb 22 Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, handed over the body of Shiri Bibas, an Israeli hostage, to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to a senior Hamas official, after Israeli authorities determined that a body returned by Hamas on Thursday was not her.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained that the mix-up occurred due to the chaos caused by Israeli airstrikes, which led to the misidentification of remains, Xinhua news agency reported.
"It was an unintentional mistake, as the body of Shiri was mixed with others due to Israeli attacks on the area where it was located," he said.
On Thursday, Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages to Israel, prompting a nationwide outpouring of grief as flag-waving crowds lined highways on a rainy day to pay respect to a convoy carrying the coffins and thousands packed a Tel Aviv square in an emotional nighttime vigil.
The dead hostages included an elderly man who had been a journalist and peace activist along with three others said to be a mother and two young boys who became international symbols of the nation’s pain following the Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s war with the militant group in October 2023.
On Thursday, al-Qassam transferred the remains of four Israeli hostages -- presumably Shiri Bibas, her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, as well as retired journalist Oded Lifshitz -- back to Israel through the ICRC.
The four hostages were abducted to Gaza during a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
However, later on Thursday, after conducting forensic analysis on the four bodies, Israeli authorities announced that the body initially believed to be Shiri Bibas did not match her DNA.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Friday that Israel will seek revenge against Hamas over its failure to hand over Shiri's body, saying, "We will ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement."
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