Tel Aviv, MINA – An Israeli official says the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has informed Israel that it has received a body from Hamas that the group says belongs to hostage Shiri Bibas, Israel Army Radio reported on Friday, Anadolu Agency reported.
The report, which cited unnamed Israeli security officials, did not provide further details.
As of 1935GMT, neither Hamas nor the Red Cross had commented on the report.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that Israel was investigating media reports that Hamas had handed over Bibas’ body to the ICRC.
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On Thursday, Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza handed over four coffins containing the bodies of Israeli hostages, saying they belonged to Shiri Bibas, her two children, Kfir and Ariel, and prisoner Oded Lifshitz. The transfer was part of the seventh shipment under the first phase of the ongoing ceasefire agreement.
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 “grave violation” of the prisoner exchange agreement.
In response, Hamas said on Friday that it would “thoroughly examine” Netanyahu’s claims and announce the results transparently.
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Palestinian resistance groups noted the possibility of errors or mistakes in the bodies, which could have been the result of Israeli bombing of the site where the Bibas family was located along with other Palestinians. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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