Hamas Hands Over Bodies of Youngest Gaza Hostages

JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Hamas handed over on Thursday the bodies of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their Oct. 7, 2023 attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day.

- JERUSALEM (Reuters)

Red Cross vehicles drove away from the handover site in the Gaza Strip with four black coffins that had been placed on a stage. Each of the caskets had a small picture of the hostages.

Hamas handed over the bodies of the two boys and their mother, Shiri Bibas, along with that of a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, under the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief video statement that Thursday would be ""a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief.""

Hundreds of people gathered in the winter cold ahead of the handover at Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Armed Hamas militants in black and camouflage uniforms toured the area.