The Red Cross received the bodies of four Israeli detainees from the Gaza Strip, with Hamas attributing their deaths to Israeli military actions under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) received on Thursday the bodies of four Israeli detainees from the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and Israel.
Five ICRC vehicles entered the Martyrs’ Cemetery in the Bani Suhaila area of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.
After signing a document with a representative of the resistance, the ICRC received four coffins, each bearing the picture and name of the Israeli prisoner, the date of death, and the phrase “killed by the occupation army.”
Israeli forces had heavily targeted the area during their military operation in Gaza.
The ICRC has received the bodies of four Israeli captives.
Hamas says the resistance ensured their dignity in death—unlike Israel, which it accuses of neglecting them in life and blocking prisoner swaps.
Israeli Army Radio: The captives were held east of Khan Younis, where… pic.twitter.com/TfyYyBvhu6
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 20, 2025
A banner was raised in the area that read, “Return of war = return of prisoners in coffins,” referring to the fate awaiting Israeli prisoners in Gaza if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to return to war.
The handover was attended by a group of Gaza prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, who had been released during previous batches of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Abu Obeida, the military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades—the military wing of Hamas—stated that the Brigades, along with the Al-Quds Brigades—the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement—would hand over the bodies of the Bibas family and prisoner Oded Lifshitz.
He explained that all the prisoners were alive before the places where they were being held were deliberately bombed by Israeli aircraft.
Yarden Bibas was captured on October 7, 2023, and was taken with his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Kfir and Ariel, to Gaza.
The Qassam Brigades released Yarden Bibas on February 1 as part of the fourth batch of prisoner exchanges within the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip with Israel.
📹 Video from Khan Yunis during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli captives shows a banner on the stage reading:
“The war criminal Netanyahu & his Nazi army killed them with missiles from zionist warplanes.” pic.twitter.com/3BHKiLvQvU
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 20, 2025
Al-Jazeera’s correspondent quoted a source in the Mujahideen Brigades as saying that Shiri Bibas was working in the office of the commander of the southern region in the Gaza Division and was a trainee in Unit 1200.
After her capture, she was secured in a fortified house with her two sons, and their necessary needs were provided. However, the Israeli forces targeted the house with a missile from an F-16 aircraft, leading to its complete destruction.
Oded Lifshitz was 85 years old when he was captured, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
The Israeli army announced that it had received the bodies of the prisoners from the Red Cross. Israeli Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu wanted to participate in the ceremony to receive the bodies but later backed out.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on his X account, “We regret that we did not do our duty and did not reach the kidnapped on that painful day and did not return them to their homes safely.”
Netanyahu had stressed that Israel would experience a “difficult and sad day” with the return of the prisoners’ bodies, adding, “My heart is torn, and the heart of the entire world must be torn… We feel the sadness and pain, but we are determined to ensure that such an event does not happen again.”
According to Israeli media, the bodies would be transferred to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Abu Kabir, south of Tel Aviv, for examination, which could take hours or more, depending on the condition of the bodies.
📹 Video circulated during preparations in Gaza for the handover of the bodies of four Israeli captives on the 33rd day of the ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/52NovZtBgl
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 20, 2025
Doctors will conduct several tests, including DNA testing, CT scans, and dental x-rays. The diagnosis will determine the cause of death, but the announcement of the results may be delayed.
With the mediation of Egypt and Qatar and the support of the United States, the ceasefire agreement went into effect on January 19, and includes three stages, each lasting 42 days. However, Israel is still delaying the start of negotiations for the second stage.
In the first phase of the agreement, the terms stipulate the gradual release of 33 Israeli detainees in Gaza, whether alive or dead, in exchange for a number of Palestinian and Arab detainees estimated between 1,700 and 2,000.
Between October 7, 2023, and January 19, 2025, Israeli forces committed actions in Gaza that resulted in over 159,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing, leading to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
(PC, AJA)
