Bodies of four hostages return to Israel under Gaza ceasefire and swap deal

The Star

Hamas handed over the bodies of the two boys and their mother of the Bibas family as well as a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, on Thursday (Feb 20) under the Jan 19 Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Hamas, on Thursday, handed over the bodies of two siblings to the International Committee

00:09of the Red Cross.

00:10The then nine-month-old Kefir and his four-year-old brother, Ariel Bibas, were the two youngest

00:16captives taken by Hamas in their attack at the Gaza-Israel border on October 7, 2023.

00:23The remains of the siblings' mother, Shiri Bibas, and that of 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz

00:28were also released by Hamas at the handover ceremony.

00:32Many Israelis watched the ceremony on giant screens at the hostages' square in Tel Aviv

00:37with sadness.

00:38You know, I've been wearing this for nearly 500 days, and honestly I think today is one

00:48of the saddest days of my 40 years in Israel.

00:52Not only specifically for this poor family who did not get the, I mean, I don't even

00:58think we thought that the babies were alive for a long time, but I feel terrified that

01:05our government is going to continue not making the right decisions to end the war.

01:11In November 2023, Hamas claimed that three detainees from the Bibas family had been killed

01:17in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

01:20The Bibas were taken captive along with the father, Yarden, as well as Lifshitz from the

01:25kibbutz near Oz community.

01:27Yarden was released together with two other hostages on February 1.

01:32Shiri and the kids became a symbol.

01:41I'm sure they don't want it.

01:45We don't know nothing about all the people that's not in Israel.

01:50And until we don't have the facts, dead or alive, so we have the hope.

02:00I have the hope.

02:01Hamas said they will release the remaining six living Israeli hostages on Saturday under

02:06the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel.

02:09They said they will hand over more bodies of the hostages next week.

02:13In return, Israel will release another 502 Palestinian prisoners this week.

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