Hundreds of Hamas supporters gathered in the Gaza Strip to celebrate as four black coffins containing the remains of a young Israeli mother,  her two toddlers, and an elderly man were paraded through the streets as part of a macabre ceremony.

Islamic war music blared from loudspeakers as the four coffins bearing Israelis Shiri Bibas, her children, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz were displayed on a stage surrounded by Hamas propaganda banners in Khan Yunis, central Gaza.

Kfir, the youngest captive, was only nine months old when he was taken by Hamas terrorists on October 7 2023, the Associated Press reported. Lifshitz was 83 when he was kidnapped.

Hamas claims that all four victims were killed along with their guards by Israeli airstrikes.

As an icy rain fell, the terrorists set the four coffins in front of a large banner depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. A message on the banner, written in Arab, Hebrew and English, read: “The War Criminal Netanyahu & His Nazi Army Killed Them With Missiles From Zionist Warplanes.”

The banner next to it depicted coffins draped in Israeli flags behind a Hamas militant rooted to the ground. That one, also accompanied by a message in the three languages, said: “The Return of War = The Return of Your Prisoners In Coffins.”

The crowd included masked and armed terrorists holding weapons and Hamas flags. Some cheered as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles.  The coffins were reportedly scanned for explosives before being transported to Israel.

Netanyahu said Israel was outraged by the degrading spectacle.

“We are all enraged at the monsters of Hamas,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video statement, adding: “We will return all our hostages, destroy the murderers, eliminate Hamas and together – with God’s help – we will secure our future.”

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk condemned the parading of the coffins in Gaza, calling it “abhorrent and cruel.” Turk said the spectacle flew in the face of international law.

“Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families,” he said in a statement.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed the grief of the Israeli people in a mournful statement.

“Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,”  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.”

At the request of the families, the Israeli military held a small funeral ceremony before transferring the bodies to a laboratory in Israel for formal identification.

“We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome,” Lifshitz’s family said in a statement after his remains had been officially identified.  “Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7.”

Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack, including some 30 children. They also murdered about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. More than half of the hostages were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Eight hostages were rescued and dozens of bodies killed in the initial attack or in captivity were recovered by Israeli forces. Another six living hostages are set to be released on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the AP reported. Hamas has reportedly agreed to release four more bodies next week as part of the ceasefire agreement, leaving some 60 hostages, all men, remaining in captivity. Around half of this number are presumed to be dead, according to the AP.

Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war. But the handover on Thursday was a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.

It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.

Kfir Bibas was just 9 months old, a red-headed infant with a toothless smile, when militants stormed into the family’s home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother Ariel was 4. Video shot that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the two boys as militants led them into Gaza.

Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month after 16 months in captivity.

Relatives in Israel have clung to hope, marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays and his brother’s fifth. The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it would wait for “identification procedures” before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.

Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the family — a reference to two boys’ red hair — 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 during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.

Hamas may balk on releasing the remaining captives “without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal,” the AP reported. Netanyahu, meanwhile, has vowed to destroy Hamas’ military and governing capacities.

Trump’s proposal to remove some 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 the war will resume with the goal of annihilating the group or forcibly transferring Gaza’s population.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reportedly claims over 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants.