Hamas has handed a body to the Red Cross that, the terror group says, belongs to Shiri Bibas, Israeli media reported on Friday.
The transfer of the body comes less than 24 hours after the Israeli military announced after a forensic examination that a body it had received Thursday, which Hamas said was Shiri Bibas, belonged to someone else. Israel could not identify the body.
Hamas later said there could have been an “error or overlap in the bodies” and that it would investigate.
Two other bodies transferred by Hamas to Israel Thursday were those of Shiri Bibas’ sons, Ariel and Kfir, the youngest hostages held in Gaza, who had become symbols of the captives’ plight. A fourth body was confirmed to be that of Oded Lifshitz, another hostage. Israelis had collectively braced themselves for the return of the bodies of the mother and children, and the news that Shiri’s body had not been returned added another shock to a wrenching week for the country.
Now, a Hamas official has said the body it transferred Friday evening is Shiri Bibas. The Red Cross will transfer the body to the Israeli military, and the body will undergo a forensic examination to determine whether it belongs to the deceased hostage.
Because the examination will take place on Friday night, following the onset of Shabbat, when traditionally observant Jews abstain from using electronics, a portion of the country will be unaware of the developments.
Shiri Bibas’ husband, the boys’ father Yarden Bibas, was taken captive separately and released earlier this month. Six more living hostages are due to be released on Saturday.
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