The body that Israel redeemed from Hamas, which the terror organization said is Shiri Bibis, belongs to an unidentified person and not the 33-year-old mother of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday morning.
The Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police identified two of the four redeemed bodies as Ariel and Kfir, whom terrorists “brutally murdered” in captivity in November 2023, the Israeli military said. At that time, the boys would have been ages 4 and 10 months, respectively.
“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages,” the IDF said. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, stated that “there are no words that can describe such an atrocity.”
Hamas “continues to violate every basic moral value,” Danon said, noting that the terror organization “returned an unidentified body, as if it were a worthless shipment.”
“This is a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel,” he added.
Danon said that the UN secretary-general, Security Council and General Assembly “cannot continue to remain silent in the face of Hamas’s barbarity.”
“The State of Israel demands a clear and unequivocal condemnation of this heinous crime and a clear and an immediate demand for the return of Shiri to her family,” he stated. “History will remember well who stood by and remained silent while Hamas trampled on the most basic principles of humanity.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) stated that “this is heartbreaking news. May the memory of Kfir and Ariel Bibas be a blessing.”
“Hamas must return Shiri Bibas—immediately—or face severe consequences,” the congressman wrote.
The Jewish Federations of North America stated that it is “appalled, outraged and disgusted by Hamas’s cruel and deceitful psychological warfare against the Bibas family, the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
“Not only did these terrorists kidnap Kfir and Ariel Bibas, two young children—aged just nine months and four years—but forensic evidence shows that they brutally murdered them roughly a month into their captivity,” the Federation stated. “Further, they lied about returning the body of their mother, Shiri, adding to the immense pain of the family. In case it was not yet clear to anyone, Hamas cannot be allowed to remain in power.”
AIPAC said that Hamas was guilty of “unfathomable evil.”