Holding flags and braving cold and intermittently stormy weather, Israelis gathered Thursday to line the route of a convoy carrying what are believed to be the bodies of four slain Israeli hostages — Shiri Bibas, her sons Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz — who were abducted alive by terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Four coffins were transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross Thursday morning in a propaganda-filled ceremony in Khan Younis, and were then handed over to the Israel Defense Forces inside Gaza.
Following a brief military ceremony, a convoy carrying the coffins, now draped in Israeli flags, crossed the border into Israel in IDF ambulances and were driven to the Abu Kabir forensic institute near Tel Aviv for identification.
As the IDF convoy exited Gaza, police officers and soldiers gathered to salute and pay their respects, waving flags and bowing their heads.
Near Kibbutz Re’im, in southern Israel, one of the communities hit hardest by the Hamas attacks, dozens stood on the side of the road as the convoy passed.
Footage showed dozens of people standing in the rain with umbrellas and yellow flags representing solidarity with the hostages. Some groups held moments of silence, while others sang the national anthem, Hatikva.
Many wore orange ribbons and shirts, for Shiri Bibas and her redheaded boys.
In Karmei Gat, the southern city where Kibbutz Nir Oz residents are living until their kibbutz is rebuilt, hundreds gathered with Israeli flags to honor the fallen hostages.
All four of the hostages whose bodies were presumed to have been returned on Thursday were kidnapped from their homes in Nir Oz during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023.
The terrorists killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages in the attack that sparked the war against the Hamas terror group, which rules Gaza.
More people congregated on highway overpass bridges along the convoy’s route from Gaza to the Abu Kabir forensic institute, as the vehicles holding what were believed to be the bodies of the four hostages passed underneath.
Others gathered in front of Abu Kabir as the IDF convoy arrived, waving flags in a gesture of respect for the dead.
Around the country, many flags were lowered to half-staff in honor the four slain hostages.
People also gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, which was filled with Israeli flags and yellow ribbons.
Mournful music played across the square and a bunch of yellow and orange balloons, symbolizing the plight of the hostages and the recognizably bright red hair of the Bibas children, stood out against the grey sky.
“I think the feeling of personal guilt is something each of us carries — that maybe we could have done more, that maybe we didn’t do enough to prevent this tragedy,” one woman in the crowd told AFP.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced a ceremony in Tel Aviv at 7 p.m. to honor the four slain hostages.
“Together we will carry the pain and memory, and declare in a clear voice: Time has run out for the hostages who remain behind! They must be returned immediately – the living for rehabilitation, and the fallen for proper burial,” the statement from the forum said.
Yael Adar, whose son Tamir Adar was killed fighting Hamas invasion on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 after which his body was abducted to Gaza, and Rabbi Elchanan Danino, whose son Ori Danino was kidnapped from the Nova rave that day and executed in captivity in August, were announced as speakers at the ceremony.
Israeli singers Omer Adam and Ivri Lider, who were both scheduled to hold large concerts on Thursday evening but canceled them upon the announcement of the handing over of the hostages’ bodies, will perform at the event.
After the release of the four bodies on Thursday, sixty-six of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF. Six living hostages are expected to be released on Saturday.