TEL AVIV, Israel — Hamas on Thursday returned the bodies of four hostages to Israel, prompting a nationwide outpouring of grief as flag-waving crowds lined highways on a rainy day to pay respect to a convoy carrying the coffins and thousands packed a Tel Aviv square in an emotional nighttime vigil.
The dead hostages included an elderly man who had been a journalist and peace activist along with three others said to be a mother and two young boys who became international symbols of the nation’s pain following the Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s war with the militant group in October 2023.
Many people wiped away tears and softly sang the national anthem as the caravan wound through southern Israel — a stark contrast to the celebratory return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a tenuous ceasefire that has paused over 15 months of war.
The handover was a grim reminder of those who died in captivity and could provide momentum for the second stage of the ceasefire negotiations. The first phase of the month-old truce between Israel and Hamas is set to end at the beginning of March.
The remains released Thursday were presumed to include Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir — and the Israeli government confirmed that one of the bodies returned was of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was kidnapped, was the youngest captive.
Hamas has said that all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Lifshitz was killed in captivity by the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Militants who handed over the bodies displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza Strip surrounded by banners, including one depicting Netanyahu as a vampire. On each coffin, a photo of one of the hostages was stapled to the side.
Large numbers of masked and armed militants looked on as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles before being driven to Israeli forces. The military later held a small funeral ceremony, at the request of the families, before transferring the bodies to a laboratory in Israel for formal identification using DNA.
In Tel Aviv where the bodies were transported, a double rainbow unfolded across the sky just before sunset. Thousands of people gathered at the city’s Hostage Square and recited traditional mourning prayers. Some held orange balloons, in honor of the Bibas boys, and the crowd swelled after sundown as musicians performed subdued ballads, matching the nation's grief.
"Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”
Lifshitz's family said after the handover that his remains had been officially identified. His son, Yizhar, told an Israeli TV station that it had brought some closure to the family. He said they did not yet know the cause of death.
“On a certain level, it closes the small chance that we had thought about," he said. "It is also closure that he will be buried back on the kibbutz. It’s a difficult day.”
The four bodies were the first of eight hostages that Israel believes are dead and to be returned during the current phase of the ceasefire.
Released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz attends a rally calling for the release of the hostages, including her husband Oded, on Dec. 9, 2023, in Tel Aviv, Israel.Alexi J. Rosenfeld—Getty ImagesInfant was the youngest taken hostage
Kfir Bibas was a red-headed infant with a toothless smile when militants stormed the family’s home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother, Ariel, was 4. Video from that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the boys as militants led them into Gaza.
Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month.
Relatives in Israel have clung to hope, marking the boys' birthdays. The Bibas family said Wednesday it would wait for “identification procedures” before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.
A cousin of Shiri Bibas who lives in Buenos Aires, told the local Radio Con Vos station she has been reliving the trauma of the abduction. Romina Miasnik said she hoped her loved ones “can become a symbol of something new, of coexistence, of hatred no longer having a place.”
Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange — a reference to the two boys' hair color — and a popular children’s song was written in their honor.
Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife, Yocheved, who was freed early in the war as an apparent humanitarian gesture.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages, including about 30 children, in the Oct. 7 attack, in which they also killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.
It's not clear if the ceasefire will last
Hamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says it will release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase. That will leave the militants with about 60 hostages, all men and about half believed to be dead.
Hamas has said it won't release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he's committed to destroying Hamas' military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
Trump's proposal to remove about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and rebuild it, which has been welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.
Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes that the war will resume with the goal of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gaza's population.
During the ceasefire, Israel has also been conducting a broad offensive against Palestinian militants in the West Bank, and in a sign that the region remains on edge, a series of explosions ripped through three empty busses in central Israel late Thursday in what authorities suspected was a militant attack. No injuries were reported.
Israel's military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza's population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
—Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Jahjouh reported from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Almudena Calatrava in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed.
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