Biba's mother confirmed dead as Gaza hostage-prisoner swap proceeds

Photo : Reuters

Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas’s village said she had died after more dead bodies were returned from Gaza. This happened when the seventh exchange of hostages and prisoners was ready to take place under a weak peace deal.

Shiri Bibas and her two little sons, Ariel and Kfir, were taken by Hamas on October 7. Their dead bodies were sent back to Israel on Thursday. Since the war in Gaza started, their story had become a sign of the pain that hostages and their families had suffered. Hamas had said Shiri's body was among those returned, but Israeli experts later found this was wrong. This mistake made many people feel sad and angry.

The people of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Shiri lived, shared a message saying they were heartbroken by her death. They said she was taken from her home and later killed while held in Gaza. They also said she would be buried in Israel next to her two little boys.

The Red Cross, a group that helps in war situations, had earlier said it had given more dead bodies to Israel. But they did not say whose bodies they were.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas for breaking the hostage deal. He said Israel would make Hamas pay for what it had done. Netanyahu also said that Hamas had killed little Ariel and Kfir.

Hamas later said there might have been a mistake in identifying the dead bodies. They said this happened because Israeli bombs had damaged the area. However, Hamas also said it was still following the peace deal.

Until now, the peace deal has helped free 19 Israeli hostages from Gaza. In return, Israel has let more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners go free. Hamas said it would release six more Israeli hostages on Saturday as part of the deal.

These six are the last ones who can be released under the first part of the deal, which is set to end in early March. Hamas also promised to give Israel four more dead bodies next week.

A group called the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, which helps prisoners, said that Israel would release 602 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday as part of the exchange.

A person from the group said that 445 of them were from Gaza and were arrested after the war started. Some of them were serving long jail time, while others were jailed for life. Some had been arrested again after being freed in a 2011 prisoner swap.

The person also said that 108 of the freed prisoners would not be allowed to stay in Israel or Palestinian areas and would have to leave the region.

An Israeli army officer, Daniel Hagari, said after checking the bodies that Hamas fighters had killed the Bibas boys "with their bare hands."

Hamas, however, said that an Israeli airstrike had killed them and their mother.

On Friday, Shiri’s sister-in-law, Ofri Bibas, said that the family was "not thinking about revenge right now." But she also blamed Prime Minister Netanyahu for not saving Shiri and her little boys. She said there would be "no forgiveness" for this.

One more dead body, belonging to Oded Lifshitz, was also returned on Thursday. He was an old journalist and had always spoken in support of Palestinian rights.

On October 7, Hamas and its allies took 251 people as hostages, which led to the war. According to Israel, 67 hostages are still in Gaza. More than 30 of them are thought to be dead.

The Hamas attack that day killed 1,214 people, most of them civilians, based on numbers from Israel.

Israel’s response in Gaza has killed at least 48,319 people, most of them civilians, according to health officials in Gaza. The United Nations has said these numbers can be trusted.

Feb. 22, 2025 {{ Blogdetails.schedule_date|time }} 471

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