Meanwhile, central Israel has been rattled by explosions on three parked buses near Tel Aviv, in what authorities suspect was a militant attack. No injuries were reported. The explosions were reminiscent of bombings during the Palestinian uprising of the 2000s, but such attacks are now rare. Explosives were also found on two other buses in the city of Bat Yam but they did not detonate.
Loading
Netanyahu vowed revenge on Hamas on Thursday after the latest handover of hostages abducted during the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Four black coffins were handed to the Red Cross in a carefully orchestrated public display, with dozens of armed Hamas militants and crowds of Palestinians gathering to watch, creating a spectacle that was condemned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Israelis lined the road in the rain near the Gaza border to pay their respects as the convoy carrying the coffins drove by.
The handover marked the first return of dead bodies during the ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
Kfir was nine months old when the Bibas family, including their father Yarden, was abducted at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of a string of communities near Gaza that were overrun by Hamas-led attackers from Gaza. Yarden Bibas was returned in an exchange for prisoners this month.
Hamas said in November 2023 that the boys and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but their deaths were never confirmed by Israeli authorities.
Lifshitz was 83 when he was abducted from Nir Oz, the kibbutz he helped found. His wife, Yocheved, 85 at the time, was seized with him and released two weeks later, along with another woman.
In a recorded address released after the remains of the hostages were handed over, Netanyahu vowed to eliminate Hamas, saying the four coffins obliged Israel to ensure more than ever that there was no repeat of the October 7 attack.
“Our loved ones’ blood is shouting at us from the soil and is obliging us to settle the score with the despicable murderers, and we will,” he said.
The Hamas-led attack into Israel killed about 1200 people, according to Israeli tallies, with 251 kidnapped. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed about 48,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, and left densely populated Gaza in ruins.
Reuters, AP
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.12869121399927086%2C$multiply_0.7554%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_110/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/t_smh_no_label_no_age_social_wm/f5277dfb2e5927ba766b944053475799dca4e734
2025-02-21 03:50:32
