Hamas Investigate Wrong Identification Of Bodies Handed Over To Israel

JAKARTA - Hamas is now investigating possible errors in identifying bodies handed over to Israel under a ceasefire agreement.

This was done when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to retaliate for failing to release the body of the Shiri Bibas hostage.

Hamas is scheduled to hand over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and his two sons Kfir and Ariel on Thursday, along with the bodies of the fourth hostages under a ceasefire agreement that has stopped fighting in Gaza since last month.

Four bodies have been handed over and the identities of Bibas' son and fourth hostage, Oded Lifshitz, have been confirmed.

But Israeli experts say the fourth body was an unknown woman and not Bibas, who was kidnapped with her sons and husband, Yarden, during Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said "unfavorable errors" could occur, especially as Israeli bombings had mixed the bodies of Israeli hostages and Palestinians, thousands of whom were still buried in the rubble.

"We affirm that it is not our values or interests to defend any agency or not comply with the agreements and agreements we signed," he said in a statement.

Hamas said separately that it would investigate Israel's statement and announce the results.

The failure to publicly hand over bodies and the handover of four coffins on Thursday caused anger in Israel and posed a retaliatory threat from Netanyahu.

"We will act with the determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages both alive and dead and ensure Hamas pay the full price for the violation of this cruel and evil agreement," he said in a video statement, accusing Hamas of acting "in a very cynical way" by placing the body of a Gaza woman in a coffin, not in Bibas.

Hamas said in November 2023 their children and mothers were killed in Israeli airstrikes and Thawabta said Netanyahu "held full responsibility for the murder of him and his children."

But the Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of Bibas' children indicated that they were deliberately killed by their kidnappers.

Netanyahu gave no details on Israel's possible response, but the incident underscored the fragility of the ceasefire agreement reached with US support and with the help of Qatar and Egypt mediators last month.

Six surviving hostages will be released on Saturday in exchange for 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, according to Hamas.

The start of negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire is expected to take place in the coming days.

"Hamas must return the hostages as agreed in the ceasefire", said Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani in a statement on social media platform X.

"They have to bring back Shiri, and they have to release 6 surviving hostages scheduled for tomorrow," he continued.

As tensions over the ceasefire in Gaza escalated, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to intensify operations in another Palestinian region, the occupied West Bank, after a number of explosions blew up empty buses in their depot near Tel Aviv.

No casualties were reported but the explosion was a reminder of a campaign of suicide attacks on public transport that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.