Netanyahu vows revenge after Hamas hands over bodies of captives

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “we will eliminate Hamas”, after the Palestinian group returned the bodies of four Israeli captives on Thursday, including the infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother, Ariel.

In a recorded address released after the captives’ remains were handed over, Netanyahu said that all Israelis feel “pain mixed with rage”.

Netanyahu added that the “the four coffins” obliged Israel to ensure “more than ever” that there was no repeat of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks.

“Our hearts may be broken, but our spirit is not,” he said.

“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 added.

Netanyahu tells military to carry out ‘intensive’ West Bank operation after bus explosions

We have been reporting on explosions in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, on Thursday night, in which three empty buses were blown up in a suspected “terror” attack.

In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed the military to carry out an “intensive” operation in the occupied West Bank, his office has said.

Posting on X, Netanyahu’s office said he had “completed a security assessment” with senior government and security personnel, concluding that the incident was an attempted “chain of mass bus bombings”.

“The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the [Shin Bet] to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities,” his office said.

Amnesty calls for release of all ‘civilian hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained’

The human rights organisation said the release of the bodies of four captives by Hamas on Thursday served as a “heartbreaking reminder of the urgent need to immediately release all civilian hostages [and] Palestinians arbitrarily detained”.

“Hostage taking is a war crime. Civilians must never be abducted. All those held captive and detained must be treated humanely and with dignity,” Amnesty wrote in a social media post.

“It also highlights this war’s devastating toll on civilians, including children. At least 36 children were killed during the 7 Oct Hamas-led attack, and at least 13,319 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since 7 Oct 2023, including 781 babies under the age of 1,” Amnesty added.

UN’s Guterres says Hamas handover of Israeli captives’ bodies violated international law

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the “parading of bodies” of Israeli captives by Hamas during a hand-over ceremony on Thursday.

In a post to social media, Guterres said the public display of coffins violated international law.

“I condemn the parading of bodies and displaying of the coffins of the deceased Israeli hostages by Hamas on Thursday,” Guterres said.

“Under international law, any handover of the remains of the deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families,” he said.

I condemn the parading of bodies and displaying of the coffins of the deceased Israeli hostages by Hamas on Thursday.

Under international law, any handover of the remains of the deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect…

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 21, 2025

Israel’s UN envoy demands Security Council condemn Hamas for allegedly returning wrong body

We have been reporting on Israel’s allegation that Hamas returned the body of an unidentified person on Thursday and falsely claimed it to be that of Israeli captive Shiri Bibas.

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said in a statement that Hamas was guilty of treating the body “as if it were a worthless shipment” and demanded the UN Security Council condemn “this heinous crime”.

“Hamas not only murdered Ariel and Kfir Bibas in cold blood – a four-year-old boy and a 10-month-old baby – but continue to violate every basic moral value even after their death,” he said, calling for the immediate return of their mother’s body.

Hamas has not yet responded to the Israeli claims regarding the body of Shiri Bibas. The armed group also said the captives were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

_{A drone view shows members of the Red Cross receiving a coffin as Hamas hands over the remains of Israeli captives on Thursday in Gaza}

Palestinian researcher says Hamas should not have paraded bodies of captives

The decision by Hamas to parade bodies of deceased Israeli captives during a handover on Thursday was a mistake by the group, a Palestinian analyst said.

In a long post to social media, Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian analyst, writer and visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said many had pointed out that Israel had returned hundreds of unidentified Palestinian bodies in “garbage bags” piled up in trucks.

“Our principles should NEVER be contingent on the behaviour of our oppressor!” Shehada wrote.

“Pointing out the mistakes of a Palestinian faction does NOT delegitimize our cause or lend credence to Israel’s [and] it most definitely does NOT mean opposing, vilifying or sowing doubt about Palestinians’ legal right to resist their slow demise [and] dispossession, in accordance with international law,” he said.

Every time I criticized today’s Hamas parade & said it’s damaging our cause, many promptly pointed out how Israel returned hundred of unidentifiable bodies of Gazans they murdered, put in garbage bags, piled in a truck & dumbed, & they ask “Why didn’t this damage Israel’s case?… pic.twitter.com/NCdlypiJgF

— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) February 21, 2025

US envoy wars of ‘annihilation’ after Hamas accused of returning wrong body

Adam Boehler, President Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, has labelled the alleged decision by Hamas to release an unidentified body in place of Shiri Bibas “horrific” and a “clear violation” of the ceasefire.

“If I were them, I’d release everybody or they are going to face total annihilation,” he told CNN.


Israeli finance minister calls for return to war in Gaza

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has demanded an immediate return to fighting in Gaza and the occupied West Bank after three empty buses exploded in a parking depot near Tel Aviv.

In a post on social media, the ultra-nationalist politician and leader of the Religious Zionist Party alleged the captive exchange that had taken place under the Gaza ceasefire deal had resulted in a “mass release of terrorists”.

The ceasefire has been “interpreted by our enemies as weakness”, he wrote.

“Our response must be an immediate return to fighting and systematically crushing terrorism until it is destroyed, in Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said, referring to the occupied West Bank.

“We will make sure that this will be the case,” he said.

Netanyahu says Hamas will pay price for ‘evil violation’ of ceasefire deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the Palestinian movement after the Israeli military said one of the bodies released by Hamas did not belong to any of the captives held in Gaza, accusing it of violating the ceasefire.

“The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds,” he said in a video statement.

Netanyahu added that his government will “ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement”.

The PM promised that he would work to bring home “all our hostages – both living and dead”.

Israel’s Smotrich says destruction of Hamas ‘must not be delayed’

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says his country should not remain silent over the “severe violation” carried out by the Palestinian group.

The statement came after Israel claimed that one of the four bodies handed over by Hamas yesterday was an unidentified woman and not a captive’s body as pledged by the group.

“The severe violation by Hamas and the ongoing abuse cannot be faced with silence. And neither can the certain knowledge that they brutally murdered the young Ariel and Kfir in captivity,” he added, referring to two children whose bodies were returned yesterday.

The body that Israel claims to be unidentified was supposed to be their mother – Shiri Bibas.

Smotrich said: “The only solution is the destruction of Hamas and it must not be delayed.”

Germany’s Scholz calls on Hamas to ‘return’ captive Shiri Bibas

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged Hamas to “return” Israeli captive Shiri Bibas after Israel said a body handed over by the Palestinian group was not hers.

The Bibas family “continue to worry about Shiri”, Scholz said in a post on social media platform X. “She too must return, Hamas must release her.”

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.

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.

Bus explosions near Israel’s Tel Aviv: What happened, and what we know so far

Starting about 8:30pm (18:30 GMT) on Thursday, explosive devices began detonating inside three buses south of Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority.

The first two bombs went off within minutes of each other, and the third exploded about 15 minutes later. All of the buses were empty.

After searching the area, Israeli responders found more explosives on two other buses that did not detonate. All five bombs were identical and equipped with timers, police said.


_{Authorities inspect a bus after a device exploded on it in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, Israel}

 
Israeli fanatics ‘more than capable’ of carrying out bombings to provoke response – Bishara

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has said people should wait before assuming who is responsible for Thursday’s bombings of empty buses near Tel Aviv, given the history of extremism among Israel’s far-right.

“I do not discount the possibility that fanatic Jews have done this in order to get the government to resume the genocide in Gaza,” he said. “They are more than capable of doing that. They killed their own prime minister [Yitzhak Rabin] back in the mid-1990s,” he added.

Israel’s far right Ben-Gvir calls on government to ‘rain hell’ on Palestinians

Without providing any evidence, Israel’s former far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has linked explosions on empty buses in Tel Aviv to the Gaza ceasefire.

In a series of posts on social media, the leader of the hard right political party Jewish Power, asked the Netanyahu government: “When the hell will you realise that you don’t make deals with the devil!”

“When the government signs reckless surrender deals with the enemy instead of raining hell on them, they gain an appetite to increase their attempts to murder Jews wholesale,” he said. “These are exactly the prices we warned about!”

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly called for the Israeli government to “bring down hell” on Hamas in recent weeks.


Three suspects arrested in Israel after Tel Aviv attack

There is a gag order on this but the Israeli media are reporting that three suspects of the Tel Aviv attack were arrested.

One of them was a Jewish Israeli who is accused of transporting those who planted the explosives in the buses in Bat Yam and Holon, right outside of Tel Aviv.

But it is a little bit unclear exactly as to what is going to happen next. They say that the other two suspects are Palestinian.

Leaflets reportedly threaten forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza

Leaflets have reportedly appeared in Gaza threatening Palestinians with forced expulsion and suggesting that “neither America nor Europe” cares about their fate.

Regional media reported the existence of the leaflets after a copy of the alleged document was posted to social media.

“Reconsider your position. The world map will not change if all the people of Gaza cease to exist. No one will feel for you, and no one will ask about you. You have been left alone to face your inevitable fate,” the text states.

How is that not crystal clear proof of genocidal intent.


Israeli military kills Palestinian man as West Bank raids continue: Reports

Israeli forces continued carrying out raids in Tulkarem and Jenin overnight, killing a man and damaging homes and infrastructure, the Wafa news agency and local media report:

Palestinian woman killed by Israel forces in Gaza’s Rafah

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian woman in the al-Jnaina neighbourhood in the eastern part of the Rafah governorate in the southern Gaza Strip.

Tent camp set up for displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza


_{An aerial view of the tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up by an NGO in northern Gaza}

Bathing once every 10 days: The reality of northern Gaza’s water crisis

Amid towering piles of rubble and destruction, mother of five Faten Abu Haloub, her family and in-laws have set up adjacent tents on the ruins of what used to be their extended family home.

Her husband Karam’s parents – 60-year-old Dalal and 65-year-old Nasser – have eight children: three sons and five daughters, of whom two still live at home. Home is now the little tent next to Karam and Faten’s with a fire pit in front and makeshift “zones”.

There’s the kitchen – no more than a few wooden planks to rest cooking utensils and their meagre food supplies on – near the fire.

Off to the side is the toilet, a stone-lined hole dug in the sand that serves as a latrine with more stones marking out a tiny bathing area, the whole section shielded by blankets draped over sticks stuck upright in the ground.

Palestinians in Gaza City face cold, wet weather conditions

No mobile homes to shelter Palestinians enter Gaza: Media office

Gaza’s Government Media Office says no mobile homes have entered the Gaza Strip for displaced Palestinians. It said a “limited number” of mobile homes had entered the Strip, but they have been designated for use by international organisations.

“We need at least 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents to provide shelter for thousands of families,” it said, adding that less than half the tents needed had entered the Gaza Strip.

For weeks, Israel has refused to allow mobile homes into Gaza to provide shelter to displaced Palestinians despite it having been agreed upon in the ceasefire.

_{Palestinians continue to live among the collapsed buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City, Gaza, on February 20}

Israeli military kills Palestinian teenager, wounds man during raids on occupied West Bank

Israel has continued carrying out raids across the occupied West Bank overnight, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa and other local outlets report.

Israeli military deploys extra battalions to the West Bank

We have been reporting on Israel’s response to the suspected “terror” attack near Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for an “intensive” counterterrorism operation in the occupied West Bank following the bus bombings. The Israeli military has now announced that it has deployed three extra units to its “Central Command”, which is responsible for Israeli forces in the West Bank.

“The [Israeli military] continues to conduct an ongoing situation assessment and prepares to expand offensive activity. The operation to thwart terrorism in northern Samaria continues at all times,” it said, using the Hebrew name for the West Bank.

The Israeli military has already been carrying out a weeks-long, large-scale assault on several areas of the West Bank, including refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams.

Rising Israeli violence having ‘devastating impact’ on West Bank children: IRC

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released a statement in which it says at least 224 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank since January 2023, accounting for half of all child fatalities in the West Bank since UN records began in 2005.

“This surge in violence is causing profound trauma and preventing IRC and partners from responding to meet mounting needs in Jenin, one of the worst-hit areas,” the statement said.

In Jenin, the IRC said it had been “working to support crisis-affected children by adapting classrooms and equipping educators to address trauma” in partnership with the Palestinian organisation Teacher Creativity Center (TCC).

However, it said, “Ongoing military operations, including airstrikes”, have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver these vital services.

“Since January this year, the IRC and TCC have been forced to suspend education activities in Jenin City, leaving 200 children without essential socio-emotional learning,” it said.

Until it is safe enough for the IRC and TCC to resume work in Jenin, these services have been relocated to Ramallah, where conditions are “somewhat more stable, but children remain exposed to routine military and settler violence”, it said.


_{Children walk past a damaged car along a street that was bulldozed by Israeli troops in an eastern neighbourhood of the West Bank city of Jenin}

Palestinian ex-prisoner recounts beating in front of Red Cross

Yousef al-Mabhouh has said he was beaten until the last moment before he was released from an Israeli prison, according to an interview conducted by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office.

“They beat us in the presence of the Red Cross, until the last moment before our release,” he said. “And I promised the officer that I would return, but not as a prisoner.”

Israeli forces assault Palestinians, prevent from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque

Several Palestinian media outlets are reporting that Israeli forces have assaulted Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and prevented them from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, to perform Friday prayers.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly barred Palestinians from entering the site for Friday prayers since October 7, 2023, forcing many to pray on the streets near the Old City.

In previous years, Israeli forces also attacked Palestinian worshippers inside the Mosque.

About 90 Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in West Bank this week: Army

The Israeli military says that approximately 90 Palestinians have been “apprehended” across the occupied West Bank in the past week, and more than 15 weapons have been confiscated.

It said that following a situational assessment, the Israeli military has blocked entry points to certain areas in the occupied West Bank and that three additional battalions had been deployed to the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military has been conducting a weeks-long, large-scale offensive on several areas of the northern occupied West Bank, including Jenin and its refugee camp, as well as Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, killing dozens of Palestinians and forcing thousands to flee their homes.


_{The damaged offices of a local cultural centre are seen exposed after the Israeli army withdrawal from the Far’a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Tubas, Wednesday, February 12}

Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Jenin: Report

Citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Wafa news agency is reporting that 13-year-old Rimas al-Amouri has died after being shot by Israeli forces in Jenin in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli military has been carrying out a large-scale raid on Jenin since last month.

Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes as a result of the violence.

Northern Ireland to boycott White House event over Trump’s Gaza plan

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill says she will not attend St Patrick’s Day events at the White House in protest against US President Donald Trump’s position on Gaza.

Political leaders from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland usually travel to the US for the annual religious and cultural holiday on March 17.

“We are all heartbroken as we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the recent comments of the US president around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something I cannot ignore,” O’Neill said at a joint news conference in Dublin alongside the leader of her Sinn Fein party, Mary Lou McDonald.

On her part, McDonald said: “There is an onus on us to act when we believe the US administration is wrong, catastrophically so in the case of Palestine.”

Ireland is sending Prime Minister Micheal Martin to the White House celebrations. Martin said this month that he would raise “a broad range of issues” with the US president.

No sign Israel will fulfil humanitarian obligations of Gaza ceasefire deal

Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel must fulfil its obligations by allowing for enough heavy machinery and mobile shelters to enter the Gaza Strip, but what has been sent to the Strip is a fraction of the massive needs of Gaza’s displaced population.

We understand that only 12 caravans were sent to UNICEF, one of the United Nations’ key agencies, and apparently no … mobile shelters have entered Gaza so far from Rafah or from the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

These would help mitigate the developing humanitarian crisis, as families in the north struggle to cope with the harsh weather conditions after having been left homeless and forced to live in the ruins of their destroyed homes.

It is thought these mobile shelters will help accommodate hundreds of thousands of families and will enable longterm recovery efforts inside the territory. Israel has not given any sort of serious indication about its commitment to implement the humanitarian protocol of the deal.

Which may in turn threaten the stability of the ceasefire agreement, expanding the gap between Hamas and Israel regarding the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, even as regional mediators are trying to exert pressure on both parties to bring sustainable peace.