Israel says body returned by Hamas not that of hostage : NPR

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Friday that the body of a hostage returned a day earlier is not the mother of two young boys whose bodies were also released by the Palestinian militant group Hamas under a ceasefire deal.

“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

Elsewhere, three empty buses exploded Thursday night in a southern suburb of Tel Aviv in a suspected terror attack and Israel’s prime minister ordered the military to conduct an operation in the occupied West Bank. No casualties were reported in the explosions and there was no claim of responsibility.

Hamas said the bodies of four hostages returned to Israel Thursday were those of Shiri Bibas, 32, her two sons Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 years and 9 months, respectively, when captured, and Oded Lifshitz, 83. All were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

Hamas claimed all the hostages were killed in Israeli air strikes during the Gaza war. But the Israeli military said forensic testing proved the hostages were all killed by their “captors,” but did not specify how.

The bodies of the two children were positively identified by forensic scientists on Thursday, according to the Israeli military. The military said forensic testing also positively identified the fourth body as Lifshitz.

However, forensic testing determined that “the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” Israel’s military said. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”

The Israeli military said it had notified the Bibas’ children’s father, Yarden Bibas, who was also kidnapped by Hamas but released earlier this month as part of a ceasefire deal that started on Jan. 19.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Thursday, extending condolences to the Bibas family. “We will act resolutely to bring Shiri home, along with all our hostages—both the living and the fallen,” he said in a pre-recorded video.

Hamas is expected to release six live Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails.

This is the eighth exchange under the first phase of the ceasefire, which is set to end March 2. There will still be 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, nearly half of them confirmed dead, according to Israel. Talks about the next phase of the deal — which were supposed to begin weeks ago — have yet to take place.

An official familiar with the matter, who did not have authorization to speak publicly and demanded anonymity, told NPR that Israel is inclined to move ahead with Saturday’s prisoner release to avoid impacting the expected release of the Israeli hostages. The official said Israel will try to take advantage of the fact that Shiri Bibas’ body was not returned as a point of negotiation to seek additional Israeli hostage releases going forward.

Tel Aviv bus explosions

A series of explosions on three buses in the southern Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam, prompted officials to halt all trains and buses across the country on Thursday night. No injuries were reported, according to Israeli police.

Israeli officials said the buses had finished their routes and were parked in different lots. Israeli police said it found explosives on two other buses which did not detonate. Those bombs were identical and equipped with timers and bomb squads were able to defuse them.

Immediately after the explosions, Netanyahu’s office ordered the military to intensify its incursions in the West Bank where it has escalated operations in the past few weeks, using airstrikes and raids.

Israel says this is a counterterrorism operation aimed at strengthening security in the West Bank. Palestinian forces have also clashed with these fighters. Thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes because of these incursions.

The latest Israel-Hamas conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants from Hamas and other groups broke through the border with Israel and killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities. In the ensuing 15 months of war, more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed in Israeli strikes, according to Gaza health authorities.

NPR’s Daniel Estrin contributed to this report.