JAKARTA - The Palestinian militant group on Friday said it would investigate possible errors in identifying the bodies of the Israeli hostages who were repatriated Thursday, a condition that Israel has criticized.
The militant group Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages according to a ceasefire agreement.
Initial information is that the bodies to be handed over consist of Shiri Bibas and his two children, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, as well as Oded Lifshitz. The family confirmed Oded's body. Likewise with the bodies of Kfir and Ariel.
However, specialists at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, where the identification process was carried out, were unable to identify the body. The IDF said the body did not match any male or female hostages.
"This is an identified anonymous body," the IDF said, quoted from The Times of Israel on February 21.
Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said an "unexpected mistake" 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 in accordance with our values or interests to keep the bodies or not comply with the agreements and agreements we signed," he said in a statement.
Hamsas said separately, it would investigate Israel's statement and announce the results.
The situation angered Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening to retaliate.
"We will act with the determination to bring Shiri home with all our hostages - both the living and the 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 the coffin, not the Bibas.
Israeli officials say the body in the coffin with Shiri's name label is in a condition that allows officers at the forensic agency to determine it is not Shiri's body.
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They said the corpse was still wearing clothes, and had been examined several times by the agency. The DNA of the body was tested with Shiri's DNA and all the other female hostages who were still being held by Hamas, and none of them matched.
Hamas asked Israel to return the bodies handed over as Shiri on Thursday, saying they remained committed to carrying out a ceasefire-freedom deal of hostages, vowing to uphold all its obligations.
Israeli officials also protested to mediators of the deal to release hostages and ceasefires after this incident, which was deemed a violation of the deal, according to Ynet.
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