Hamas says body of Shiri Bibas seems mixed with other human remains in rubble of Israeli air attack
The Palestinian group says the body of Israeli captive Shiri Bibas appear to have been mixed with other human remains from the rubble after an Israeli air attack hit the place she was held in.
No interest in ‘keeping any bodies’ of Israeli captives: Hamas
Hamas says it is aware of the claims over the body of a captive released yesterday and looking into them “with complete seriousness”.
“We also point out the possibility of an error or overlap regarding the bodies, which may have resulted from the occupation targeting and bombing the place where the family was with other Palestinians,” the group said in a statement published on Telegram.
Hamas said it would inform the mediators of the results of the investigation, also calling for the return of the body that Israel claims belonged to a Palestinian woman.
The group added it “will announce the results transparently”.
Hamas stressed it has no interest in “keeping any bodies” of the captives.
Mix-up of Israeli captive’s body ‘indication of what happened in the 15 months’
In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office played down the threats made by Israeli officials over the claims that the body returned to Israel on Thursday did not belong to a captive.
The office stated that the remains of the body of the female captive were found mixed with the remains of other people under the rubble of a building. The building was relentlessly bombed during multiple air attacks in Gaza.
This is just an indication of what happened in the 15 months of Israel’s relentless bombardment campaign. Many people who were killed and removed from under the rubble were torn into pieces, with many of the bodies collected in plastic bags and brought to the hospitals.
While covering what happened to Gaza, we saw this with our own eyes at hospitals.
Palestinians continue to struggle for daily survival amid the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks in Beith Lahiya, Gaza on February 21
Hamas official blames Netanyahu for crisis over return of Shiri Bibas’s body
Hamas official Taher al-Nunu has accused the Israeli prime minister of perpetuating a “series of lies” in the ongoing dispute over the return of the body of Israeli captive Shiri Bibas.
“We say clearly that we are committed to the agreement. Mistakes can happen. We are investigating this matter,” al-Nunu told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Al-Nunu blamed Netanyahu for the current crisis, saying Hamas had offered to release captives early in the war in exchange for a ceasefire but the Israeli leader rejected the proposal. “At that time, all the civilian hostages were alive,” al-Nunu said.
The Hamas official also criticised Netanyahu for his refusal to extend the first truce in November 2023 to allow for the return of civilian captives, including those killed.
“Netanyahu refused to extend the truce for only one more day for Israel to get some of the civilians, including the bodies of the Bibas family,” he said.
Israeli public focused on plight of Bibas family
We’ve been hearing very combative remarks from the Israeli prime minister. He wants Hamas to pay a heavy price for this incident.
A spokesperson of the Israeli army said the four captives were killed by their captors and not by Israeli bombardment. Of course, we have no way of verifying that, nor has the report of the forensic institute been published.
The Bibas family remarks are very important for the Israeli public, who have been so focused on the plight of this family. Many want them [to have] closure, to be able to bury their loved ones in dignity.
For now, at least, they can take some comfort that the next release of Israeli captives will proceed on Saturday when six Israeli captives are scheduled for release in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Many of those [prisoners] will be returning to Gaza after months, or even years, since disappearing.
