"The most cynical display of inhumanity'

HAMAS terrorists paraded the bodies of a mother, her two young children and an 84-year-old peace campaigner before handing them over to Israel yesterday.

- Matthew Dooley

Masked men carried the four black coffins on to a stage surrounded by banners - including an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bloodstained fangs - as music blared out.

Another poster poster proclaimed: "The Return of the War The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins." Each casket bore a photo of the deceased above a picture of Mr Netanyahu that decried him as "The Killer".

Red Cross workers, who were transferring the bodies from the outskirts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza to Tel Aviv in Israel, 60 miles away, checked for booby traps before putting the coffins in their vehicles, as thousands of Hamas supporters watched.

Afterwards the UN's Human Rights chief called the handover abhorrent and cruel and a breach of international law.

Volker Turk said: "Under international law, any handover of the remains of deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families." When the coffins arrived in Israel, its military held a small funeral service as requested by the families. The bodies were then transferred to a lab for DNA identification - a process that could take up to two days.

Horrifying

Last night Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine confirmed one of the dead is 84-yearold Oded Lifschitz, who helped sick Palestinians get hospital treatment in Israel.

The others are believed to be Shiri Bibas, 32, and her sons Ariel and Kfir, who were just four and nine months old when they were kidnapped. Images of Mrs Bibas trying to shield her children from the terrorists were among the most horrifying of October 7, 2023.