Doha, MINA – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received the body from Hamas, which the group claims belongs to Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas, as reported by Al Jazeera and the Israel Army Radio.
“The Israeli military will receive the coffin from the Red Cross once coordination is completed. The situation on the ground is quite complicated,” said the Qatari broadcaster on Friday.
“Any movement at night for the Red Cross must be coordinated closely with the Israeli army, which remains in what is called the buffer zone, which is 2,296 feet to one kilometer inside the area,” it added.
An Israeli security official confirmed that the Red Cross had received Bibas’ body, as reported by Israel Army Radio.
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The report, quoting an unnamed Israeli security official, did not provide further details.
Neither Hamas nor the Red Cross issued any comments regarding the report.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that Israel is investigating media reports suggesting that Hamas had handed over Bibas’ body to the ICRC.
Previously on Thursday, Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza handed over four coffins containing the bodies of Israeli hostages, stating that the coffins belonged to Shiri Bibas, her two children Kfir and Ariel, and hostage Oded Lifshitz.
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However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a video statement on Friday morning that Hamas had returned the body of a woman from Gaza, not Bibas.
He vowed that Hamas would “pay the full price” for what he called a “serious violation” of the prisoner exchange agreement.
In response, Hamas rejected Netanyahu’s threats and promised to “thoroughly examine” Netanyahu’s claims and announce the results transparently.
Hamas noted that there might have been an error or mix-up with the bodies, possibly caused by Israeli bombings in the area where the Bibas family was located with other Palestinian civilians.
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Meanwhile, Hamas official Taher al-Nunu accused Netanyahu of spreading “a series of lies” in the ongoing dispute over the return of Shiri Bibas’ body.
“We make it clear that we are committed to the agreement. Mistakes may happen. We are investigating the matter,” al-Nunu told Al Jazeera Arabic.
Al-Nunu blamed Netanyahu for the current crisis, saying that Hamas had offered to release the hostages early in the war in exchange for a ceasefire, but the Israeli leader rejected the proposal.
“At that time, all the civilian hostages were still alive,” al-Nunu added. []
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