Shiri Bibas’s family confirmed Hamas returned her body to Israel on Saturday, the same day the terrorist organization released the last six living hostages to the Jewish nation.
On Thursday, Hamas released what was supposed to be the remains of Bibas to Israel in accordance with a ceasefire deal reached in January.
After it was revealed by forensic intelligence that the corpse was, in fact, that of an anonymous Gazan woman, Hamas released a second body to Israel that was subsequently identified to be the true remains of Shiri Bibas.
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The Bibas family released a statement early Saturday morning verifying the news in a statement to an advocacy group for releasing hostages held by Hamas.
“Following the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, we received this morning the news we had dreaded – our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister, and all her family for rest,” the family told the advocacy group Bring Them Home Now.
“For 16 months we sought certainty, and now that it’s here, it brings no comfort, though we hope it marks the beginning of closure,” their statement continued.
Bibas and her two small boys, Airel and Kfir were murdered by Hamas after being taken hostage by the terrorist organization during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The bodies of Airel and Kfir were released by Hamas on Thursday along with the supposed body of their mother.
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When news broke that Hamas had returned the wrong body for Shiri, the terrorist organization claimed the situation occurred due to a mistake, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begged to differ, calling it an “unbelievably cynical” act and warning Hamas would pay “the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the [ceasefire] agreement.”
On Saturday, Hamas also released six more Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza during the eighth hostage-for-prisoner exchange in the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
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Tal Shoham, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, and Omer Shem-Tov were released after being kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack. Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed were returned to their families after the civilians were held by Hamas for over a decade.
In exchange for the six hostages, Israel released over 600 Palestinian prisoners to Hamas, including many who were serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.