A poster exhibits Shiri Bibas, heart, who was kidnapped to Gaza together with her husband and two younger sons on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem on Friday.
Mahmoud Illean/AP
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Mahmoud Illean/AP
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli navy stated Friday that the physique of a hostage returned a day earlier just isn’t the mom of two younger boys whose our bodies had been additionally launched by the Palestinian militant group Hamas beneath a ceasefire deal.
“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israeli navy stated in an announcement.
Elsewhere, three empty buses exploded Thursday night time in a southern suburb of Tel Aviv in a suspected terror assault and Israel’s prime minister ordered the navy to conduct an operation within the occupied West Financial institution. No casualties had been reported within the explosions and there was no declare of duty.
Hamas stated the our bodies of 4 hostages returned to Israel Thursday had been these of Shiri Bibas, 32, her two sons Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 years and 9 months, respectively, when captured, and Oded Lifshitz, 83. All had been taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Ouncesthroughout the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault.
Hamas claimed all of the hostages had been killed in Israeli air strikes throughout the Gaza battle. However the Israeli navy stated forensic testing proved the hostages had been all killed by their “captors,” however didn’t specify how.
The our bodies of the 2 kids had been positively recognized by forensic scientists on Thursday, in response to the Israeli navy. The navy stated forensic testing additionally positively recognized the fourth physique as Lifshitz.
Nevertheless, forensic testing decided that “the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” Israel’s navy stated. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”
The Israeli navy stated it had notified the Bibas’ kids’s father, Yarden Bibas, who was additionally kidnapped by Hamas however launched earlier this month as a part of a ceasefire deal that began on Jan. 19.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Thursday, extending condolences to the Bibas household. “We will act resolutely to bring Shiri home, along with all our hostages—both the living and the fallen,” he stated in a pre-recorded video.
Hamas is anticipated to launch six reside Israeli hostages on Saturday in change for greater than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails.
That is the eighth change beneath the primary section of the ceasefire, which is about to finish March 2. There’ll nonetheless be 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, almost half of them confirmed lifeless, in response to Israel. Talks in regards to the subsequent section of the deal — which had been supposed to start weeks in the past — have but to happen.
An official acquainted with the matter, who didn’t have authorization to talk publicly and demanded anonymity, instructed NPR that Israel is inclined to maneuver forward with Saturday’s prisoner launch to keep away from impacting the anticipated launch of the Israeli hostages. The official stated Israel will attempt to make the most of the truth that Shiri Bibas’ physique was not returned as some extent of negotiation to hunt extra Israeli hostage releases going ahead.
Tel Aviv bus explosions
A sequence of explosions on three buses within the southern Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, prompted officers to halt all trains and buses throughout the nation on Thursday night time. No accidents had been reported, in response to Israeli police.
Israeli officers stated the buses had completed their routes and had been parked in several heaps. Israeli police stated it discovered explosives on two different buses which didn’t detonate. These bombs had been equivalent and geared up with timers and bomb squads had been capable of defuse them.
An Israeli police officer inspects the scene of certainly one of a sequence of bus explosions in what authorities stated gave the impression to be a militant assault in Bat Yam, central Israel on Feb. 20, 2025.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
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Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Instantly after the explosions, Netanyahu’s workplace ordered the navy to accentuate its incursions within the West Financial institution the place it has escalated operations previously few weeks, utilizing airstrikes and raids.
Israel says this can be a counterterrorism operation aimed toward strengthening safety within the West Financial institution. Palestinian forces have additionally clashed with these fighters. Hundreds of Palestinians have been displaced from their properties due to these incursions.
The most recent Israel-Hamas battle started on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants from Hamas and different teams broke by the border with Israel and killed some 1,200 folks and took greater than 250 folks hostage, in response to Israeli authorities. Within the ensuing 15 months of battle, greater than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza had been killed in Israeli strikes, in response to Gaza well being authorities.
NPR’s Daniel Estrin contributed to this report.
