PA MediaAccording to Israeli military, one of the four bodies that returned to Israel from Gaza on Thursday from the Israeli military, as Hamas claims, is not a hostage silivivus.
News that 32-year-old Siri Vivas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, now five and two, have died as they caused a pouring of grief in Israel.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) informed the Vivas family that the body of her son had been identified after their bodies were given to Israel by Hamas on Thursday.
But the third body wasn’t the mother’s body, IDF says.
He demanded the return of her body along with the rest of the hostages. Hamas has yet to comment on Israeli claims.
“During the identification process, the additional bodies received were determined to be not of Silivivus and not matched by other hostages. This is an anonymous, unconfirmed body,” the IDF posted to X. .
“This is the biggest breach of severity by Hamas terrorist organizations and is mandatory under a contract to return the hostages of four deceased.
The IDF said the two children were “brutally murdered by prisoner terrorists in November 2023,” according to intelligence and forensic research. Hamas said the boys and their mother were killed in the Israeli bombing.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were 32 years old, four months old and nine months old, lured during Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The father of a 34-year-old child, Yalden Vivas, was released by Hamas on February 1st.
Israel confirmed that the fourth body, which returned Thursday, belongs to veteran peace activist Oded Lifshitz.
The release of the hostage bodies was agreed as part of a ceasefire agreement that came into effect on January 19, and Israel confirmed that it expects eight bodies to be handed over.
Both sides agreed to trade 33 hostages for around 1,900 prisoners by the end of the first six weeks of the ceasefire.
Consultations on progression to the next stage of the transaction – the remaining living hostages will be released and the war will end forever – begin earlier this month but not yet.
To date, 28 hostages have been exchanged and more than 1,000 prisoners have been exchanged.
The 66 hostages, filmed on October 7th, are still being held in Gaza. Three other hostages, filmed over a decade ago, are also being held. Approximately half of all hostages still in Gaza are thought to be alive.
Around 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel responded and launched a massive military campaign against Hamas, killing at least 48,297 Palestinians (mainly civilians), according to Hamasran Health Ministry.
Also on Thursday, three buses exploded in Batyam south of Tel Aviv, which Israeli police said were suspected of a terrorist attack.
The other two bus devices failed to explode, adding that “a large police are on the scene and are looking for suspects.” No casualties have been reported.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that it had ordered the IDF to carry out a “intensive operation against terrorist centres” in the West Bank.
