Hamas members stand next to the coffins on stage before handing over the bodies of four Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. Hamas handed over on February 20 coffins believed to contain the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including those of the Bibas family who became symbols of the ordeal that has gripped Israel since the Gaza war began. (Photo by ABOOD ABUSALAMA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Staff James Meyers 11:10 AM – Thursday, February 20, 2025
The bodies of four slain Israeli hostages, including the two youngest hostages abducted by the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023, have returned back to Israel 503 days after they were snatched from their homes and dragged into Gaza.
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The disturbing exchange saw the terrorist group hand over the bodies of what are believed to be nine-month old Kfir Bibas, his brother, Ariel, who was taken at just 4-years old, their mother, Shiri, 33, and Oded Lifshitz, 84.
Our hearts break as four hostages murdered by Hamas return to Israel: Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel.
It is beyond comprehension that anyone could take the lives of these innocent people—a peace activist, and a young mother and her babies.… pic.twitter.com/YF96z2KBdA
Their bodies were then transferred to the Jewish State, where a funeral will be held for them.
At the exchange, Hamas laid out four coffins with the bodies inside each of them, putting them on display in front of a graphic and disturbing mural depicting a bloody Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with fangs, standing over pictures of the Bibas family and Lifshiftz. There was a propaganda message written alongside them.
Additionally, next to the coffins, were two missiles that had English text reading, “They were killed by USA bombs.”
The exchange was crowded by Hamas terrorists and Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis to watch the transfer of the victims.
In another disturbing move, each black coffin had a photo of the victim and Netanyahu displayed on the side of them along with another Hamas propaganda message.
Each coffin was carried out by four Hamas terrorists to a waiting Red Cross vehicle, where workers then draped a white sheet over the coffins before putting them in the back of the vehicle.
Shiri Bibas was the first coffin to be transferred, followed by her sons, Kfir and Ariel.
Lifshitz was the last victim carried over to the trucks.
The exchange was officially over when the five Red Cross vehicles departed the exchange area just before 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Upon receiving the caskets, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conduced a security screening on them to ensure that the caskets could be opened and that they were not booby-trapped.
The coffins, which contained bodies that have not yet been identified, were then each draped in Israeli flags for a short military ceremony.
DF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim recited Psalm 83 as IDF troops saluted. The Mourner’s Kaddish, the Jewish prayer which is recited in memory of the dead, was not said as the bodies of the victims have not yet been identified.
(Credit IDF)
Leaders of Israel and family members of the slain expressed their thoughts on the hostage exchange and their sadness that the victims could not be brought back home alive.
“Agony. Pain. There are no words,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X. “Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters.”
“On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”
Agony. Pain. There are no words.
Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters.
On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “on this day we are united, in grief that is too heavy to bear.” He went on to say that all of the hostages that were taken by the terrorist group will come home and that Hamas will be eliminated with God’s help.
We all feel pain mixed with rage. We are all outraged at the Hamas monsters.
The four coffins of our dear ones require us, more than ever, to ensure, to swear, that what happened on October 7 never recurs.
Our heart may be broken but our spirit is not. And with this spirit: We will return all of our hostages. We will destroy the murderers; we will eliminate Hamas. And together, with G-d’s help, we will ensure our future.
Lifshitz’s son, Yitzhar, expressed anger for what happened to the four victims.
“(They) suffered tragic, agonizing deaths, without their families by their sides,” he said, according to the Times of Israel, citing Army Radio.
Yitzhar said that he would continue to fight for the remaining hostages despite his father’s body being returned to Israel.
“It’s not over for anyone today, even when the end is tragic we continue to pray for the hostages and the fallen who still need to be returned,” he said.
The Bibas family never gave up hope that the little boys and mother would be released alive.
“I believe they’re alive — I personally don’t believe they are dead,” Shiri’s cousin Yosi Shnaider told the New York Post just a few days before the tragic news was confirmed.
The family has faced hardship since November 2023, after Hamas released a propaganda video forcing father Yarden Bibas, who was freed earlier in February, to announce the death of his wife and sons.
The tearful and heartbroken father claimed Shiri and the boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the most destructive attacks against the Gaza Strip.
However, the terrorist group never provided proof that the family was indeed killed by an airstrike, and the Jewish State refused to confirm the deaths until Thursday’s exchange took place.
The Lifshitz family had been prepared for the worst, after they last received signs of life on Day 25 of the war.
His son, Yizhar, previously told Ynet that the family had received no word on the status of his father since November 2023.
Meanwhile, Hamas is set to free six living hostages on Saturday.
The six hostages set to be freed include Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who were kidnapped in 2014 and 2015, after crossing into the Gaza Strip by themselves.
The Jewish State claimed that at the time both of them were dealing with mental health issues.
On March 2nd, phase one of the cease-fire ends. With the second and the third phases coming up, an agreement to free the remaining 59 hostages and finding a permanent end to the war will need to be negotiated.
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