Hamas turns handover of dead Israeli hostages into a spectacle

Hamas displayed coffins that it said held the bodies of four Israeli hostages before a crowd of militants before handing them over to Israel on Thursday, in a spectacle that included taunts and anti-Israel slogans.

- 

Each coffin had a photo of a hostage on it, including two young redheaded children, as well as a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over which was written "The Killer." The coffins were placed on a stage before cheering spectators and cameras that broadcast the scenes on Arab television channels. The International Committee of the Red Cross, who received the remains and transferred them to Israeli custody, initially tried to shield them from view with large white screens.

Israeli broadcasters didn't air the images.

Amid the crowds were some Palestinians recently released by Israel in the cease-fire deal who were supposed to be exiled from Gaza, according to the terms of the agreement. Those spotted in the crowds included Mohammed Abu Warda, who was sentenced for planning a 1996 bus bombing that killed more than 40 Israelis.

For the first time since the start of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, under which the militant group agreed to free hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, those returning to Israel are dead. Hamas said they include three members of a family whose capture became symbolic of the horrors of the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.

Israelis clung to hope for more than a year that Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir, who were just four years old and nine months old when they were kidnapped by Hamas, might somehow still be alive. On Thursday, those hopes were shattered.