Shiri Bibas Body Returned, Family Mourns
The Bibas family confirmed on February 22, 2025, that the Shiri Bibas body returned by Hamas on Friday is hers, ending 16 months of uncertainty. “Our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home,” they said in a statement via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Israel’s forensic team, still verifying the identity, hadn’t confirmed by late Friday, February 21. This follows outrage when Thursday’s handover—an unidentified woman’s body—proved not to be Shiri, despite Hamas’s claim. The family seeks closure, stating, “There is no comfort in it, but we hope for the beginning.”
Shiri, 32, and her sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, during Hamas’s attack that killed 1,200 and took 251 hostages. Thursday’s return included Ariel, Kfir, and Oded Lifschitz, 84, but not Shiri—prompting Israel to accuse Hamas of breaching the January 19 ceasefire deal. Hamas’s Ismail al-Thawabta posted on X that Shiri’s remains were “mixed up” in airstrike rubble, a claim Israel disputes. IDF’s Daniel Hagari said forensic evidence, unverified by the BBC, shows the boys were “deliberately” killed by captors, not bombs, shared with global partners.
Ceasefire Deal Advances Amid Shiri Bibas Body Returned Drama
The Shiri Bibas body returned saga unfolds as Hamas prepares to free six living hostages on Saturday, February 22, swapping them for 602 Palestinian prisoners under the 42-day ceasefire’s first phase. Begun January 19, it’s seen 28 hostages and over 1,000 prisoners exchanged, with 33 hostages total pledged for 1,900 Palestinians. Yarden Bibas, 34, freed February 1, awaited his family’s fate—now confirmed grim. Next phases will release remaining living hostages—66 from October 7, half likely alive, plus three held over a decade—and more bodies, against further prisoner releases.
Hamas’s Friday handover to the Red Cross, confirmed by a senior official to the BBC, aimed to correct Thursday’s error, where Ariel, Kfir, and Lifschitz were identified, but the fourth body wasn’t Shiri. Israel’s campaign post-October 7 has killed 48,319 Palestinians, mostly civilians, per Gaza’s health ministry. For updates, visit BBC or Kenkou Land.
Main Body: A Nation Grieves, Deal Holds
The Shiri Bibas body returned news caps a wrenching chapter. Kidnapped with her redheaded boys—symbols of Israel’s hostage plight—she’s now reunited with them in death. Thursday’s mix-up, with an unidentified Gazan woman’s body, drew Netanyahu’s vow to make Hamas “pay the full price.” Hamas insists an airstrike killed the trio, but IDF’s Hagari claims deliberate murder, evidence unseen. Oded Lifschitz, a peace activist, joins them in tragedy—his wife Yocheved freed early.
Saturday’s swap looms—six lives for 602—yet trust frays. The ceasefire, fragile at five weeks, aims to end 16 months of war, with 66 hostages left in Gaza. Israel demands all returned; Hamas pledges compliance. Today, February 21, 2025, at 11:52 PM PST, closure nears for the Bibases, but the nation’s anguish persists. Yarden, free yet incomplete, embodies a pain echoed in vigils nationwide—hope extinguished, justice unresolved.
