Hamas Explains Why Body of Mother Was Missing

 

Confronted with Israel’s charge that a body it received was not Shiri Bibas, nor even a hostage, the Hamas terrorist group said there may have been “an error or mix up” in bodies found in the rubble left by an Israeli airstrike Hamas says killed the woman and her two young sons.

Hamas said her remains appear to have been mixed with others. The group said it will “examine these allegations very seriously” and announce its findings.

However, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) says the boys were murdered, that the terrorists sought to obscure the evidence, and that Israel is sharing the evidence with partners around the world so they can verify it.

The bodies of Bibas’s two children, Ariel and Kfir, were positively identified by Israel’s national forensics center on Feb. 20 after their bodies and one that Hamas claimed was their mother, along with the body of retired journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz, 83, were returned earlier in the day.

The forensics director said the boys were murdered in November 2023 when Ariel was 4 years old and Kfir 10 months old. Lifshitz’s body was also positively identified, and the forensics center said that he, too, was murdered.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the IDF, said the forensic analysis showed the terrorists “did not shoot the boys” but “killed them with their bare hands.” The terrorists then “committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”

“This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process, and intelligence that supports the findings,” Hagari said on Feb. 21.

“We have shared these findings, intelligence and forensic, with our partners around the world so that they can verify it and that the entire world will know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates.

“Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza.”

Hamas has not offered any evidence to support its claim that the Bibas family and Lifshitz were killed in an air strike.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Feb. 21 that Israel would make Hamas pay for failing to release Bibas’s body as required.

“We will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages—both living and dead—and ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.