Israel reviewing reports Hamas gave Red Cross body of hostage Bibas

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said on Friday that it was reviewing reports that Hamas had handed over to the Red Cross a body it claimed was that of hostage Shiri Bibas.

"Following the reports regarding Shiri Bibas, they are currently under review," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said on X.

"IDF [military] representatives are in contact with the family."

Multiple Israeli media outlets reported that the Red Cross had collected a body from Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Bibas, along with her two young sons Ariel and Kfir, had come to symbolise for many Israelis the plight of the hostages seized by Hamas and its allies during their October 7, 2023 attack.

Hamas had promised to hand over the remains of all three on Thursday, but Israeli authorities said that forensic tests showed a body given to the Red Cross and purported to be Shiri Bibas was not in fact her, but rather an unidentified woman.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the body was that of a woman from Gaza.

The revelation that the body was not Bibas' prompted an outpouring of grief and outrage in Israel.

"These are difficult hours of uncertainty. We hope that Hamas does not deceive us at this moment. Uncertainty can and may lead to unrest and extreme tension," Gilad Bodenheimer, head of mental health at the ministry of health, said in a statement.

Hamas on Thursday also handed over to the Red Cross the remains of Ariel Bibas, aged four at the time of his abduction, and Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage at just nine months old.

The two Bibas boys' bodies were positively identified, Israeli officials said.

The boys' father, Yarden Bibas, was also taken hostage, and was released alive in a previous exchange.

A fourth body handed over Thursday was that of veteran journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz.