BODIES of four dead hostages kidnapped by Hamas thugs on October 7 have finally been handed over to Israel.
The remains of the Bibas family – Kfir, 2, Ariel, 5 and mum Shiri, 33 – are expected to be among those released today in a grotesque spectacle arranged by the terror group.
The Bibas family – Shiri, baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel – with rescued husband and dad Yarden[/caption]
Hamas fighters stand by a makeshift stage where the hostage handover took place[/caption]
Evil militants preparing for the vile spectacle[/caption]
Israeli flags honouring the hostages have been put up in Tel Aviv as hundreds watched the sickening handover[/caption]
Oded Lifshitz’s body will make up the fourth captive to be repatriated in the first planned return.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “heartbreaking day” for the people of Israel who have waited for over 500 days to learn the fate of the hostages.
Netanyahu said in a statement: “Tomorrow [Thursday] will be a very difficult day for the State of Israel – a heartbreaking day, a day of grief.
“We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages – fallen heroes.”
Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum also labelled the news of the hostage deaths as “heart-shattering”.
Evil masked Hamas militants, dressed in their usual green balaclavas and combat gear, were seen parading round at today’s harrowing event.
The terrorists have spent the first few weeks of the hostage release deal celebrating each handover while making chilling propaganda videos showing the captives smiling.
Today, Hamas fighters stood in formation around a makeshift stage in Khan Younis where the bodies were being handed over to the Red Cross.
Hundreds of men, women and children gathered the nearby streets to watch the first release of the bodies of the hostages.
The vile militants took four black coffins on stage before officially handing them over.
Each one had the faces of the hostages on them and a sickening image of Netanyahu covered in blood.
A disturbing poster acted as a backdrop for the twisted parade which showed the PM and the four brave hostages.
Each body is expected to be taken from Gaza to Abu Kabir where they will be brought to a forensic laboratory to help determine both when and how they died.
Israel are also aware of four other hostages who are confirmed as dead.
It is not yet clear who the other deceased are as Israeli hostage families desperately continue to cling on to hope.
Women, children and men were brutalised by Hamas terrorists from the moment they swept across the border amid the October 7 atrocity.
Armed Hamas fighters stand in Khan Younis ahead of the handover of the dead hostages[/caption]
Dozens of onlookers have turned up to watch the grotesque event[/caption]
Vile terrorists captured 251 hostages, many of who were subjected to unspeakably warped treatment, with another 1,200 killed.
At least 70 hostages still remain captive in Gaza over 500 days on from the initial bloodshed with those who died in captivity finally being returned to their loved ones.
A top Hamas official said another six alive hostages will also be freed on Saturday before another set of bodies are returned.
The six are said to be the last living hostages Hamas will release during the first phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement.
They are Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed, and Avera Mengistu, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
A family left in turmoil
The loved ones of the Bibas brothers and mum are said to be in “turmoil” after all three tragically died while in Hamas captivity.
Baby Kfir, Ariel and Shiri were kidnapped on October 7, alongside Yarden, Shiri’s husband and the boys’ father.
He was freed earlier on February 1 after spending 484 days in Gaza’s terror tunnels on his own, as he was quickly separated from his family.
The whole family sheltered inside their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas fiends rampaged through southern Israel on October 7.
Posters of the Bibas family which have been spread across Israel for over 500 days[/caption]
They kept anxious relatives elsewhere in Israel updated by text message as gunmen stormed through neighbours’ homes.
A short time later a horrific video emerged of Shiri looking utterly terrified and crying as she clung to her two sons while Hamas gunmen led them away from the family home.
Relatives had been clinging onto hope despite having no proof of life over the family for months.
That hope was extinguished this week with confirmation that the mother and boys – who had been on the list for release in the first six-week phase of the ceasefire – were dead.
What happened on October 7?
ON OCTOBER 7, 2023, Hamas launched a brutal surprise attack on Israel, marking one of the darkest days in the nation’s history.
Terrorists stormed across the border from Gaza, killing over 1,200 people — most of them civilians — and kidnapping 250 others, including women, children, and the elderly.
The coordinated assault saw heavily armed fighters infiltrate Israeli towns, kibbutzim, and military bases, unleashing indiscriminate violence.
Innocent families were slaughtered in their homes, and graphic footage of the atrocities spread across social media, leaving the world in shock.
And as well as attacking people in their homes, they stormed the Nova music peace festival – killing at least 364 people there alone.
The massacre triggered a swift and massive retaliatory response from Israel, escalating into a full-scale war.
The attack not only reignited long-standing tensions in the region but also left deep scars on both sides of the conflict, setting the stage for the 15 months of devastation that followed.
