The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Kibbutz Nir Oz announces Shiri Bibas was murdered in Gaza captivity
Kibbutz Nir Oz releases a statement saying that resident Shiri Bibas was murdered in Gaza after being kidnapped with her young sons Ariel and Kfir during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.
There is no immediate response from Israeli authorities to the announcement, which comes after a body that Hamas claims is Bibas was brought to Israel for identification.
Bibas was supposed to be returned Thursday alongside the remains of her sons and fellow Nir Oz resident Oded Lifshitz, all three of whom authorities have said were murdered in captivity.
Trump pushes out top US general in major shakeup of military leadership
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump announces he will replace the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown, and soon swap out five other high level positions in an unprecedented shakeup of the leadership of the US military.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, says he will nominate retired Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown.
The decision sets off a period of upheaval at the Pentagon, which is already bracing for firings of civilian staff, a dramatic overhaul of its budget and a shift in US military deployments under Trump’s new America First foreign policy.
New York landmarks lit orange to honor Bibas children
New York State landmarks are illuminated orange in honor of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, New York Governor Kathy Hochul says.
“Our hearts are broken as we mourn Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were brutally murdered by Hamas in an act of callous and unthinkable cruelty,” Hochul says in a statement. “I join the millions around the world honoring their memory and demanding that Hamas immediately return the remains of Shiri Bibas home to Israel.”
Fourteen state landmarks will be illuminated tonight, including One World Trade Center, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Plaza in Albany, Moynihan Train Hall in New York City, and several bridges.
Red Cross says it transferred body received from Hamas to Israeli authorities
The Red Cross says it has handed over a body it collected from Hamas in the Gaza Strip this evening to Israeli authorities.
Hamas has claimed that the body belongs to hostage Shiri Bibas.
The IDF has not yet commented.
השיירה עם הארון שהועבר מהצלב האדום הגיעה לשטח ישראל@Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/UQLEIuehb5
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 21, 2025
Residents of the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel line the highway where a police convoy passes by as it transports the remains for identification to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv.
The body’s arrival in Israel comes hours before Hamas is slated to free six hostages from Gaza, the last of those to be returned under the first phase of the hostage release and ceasefire deal who are alive.