A body that Hamas says is that of Shiri Bibas has been given to the Red Cross for return to Israel, according to reports.The move follows the uproar Friday after a body was transferred to Israel that turned out not to be the mother of two who was kidnapped with her husband and children during Oct. 7 attack, but that of a Gaza resident.A senior Arab diplomat confirmed to the Times of Israel that the Red Cross collected the second body from Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It was set to be turned over shortly to the Israeli Defense Forces. Once back in Israel, the body will be taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for confirmation of identification, according to the news site.After the body is confirmed by Israel to be that of Shiri Bibas, Israel will release the body that it had already received so it can be returned to Gaza.The latest development comes after Mr. Netanyahu expressed outrage on Friday that Shiri Bibas had not been among the four deceased hostages returned by Hamas on Thursday under the fragile ceasefire. “These Hamas monsters also cynically refused to bring back the boys’ mother, Shiri and sent the body of a Gazan woman instead, in brazen violation of the agreement. Today the heavens shake,” Mr. Netanyahu said. Later Friday, Yediot Achronot reported an Israeli official said the IDF had come to believe that Hamas had made a mistake and that it was not an intentional effort to deceive Israel by returning the wrong body. It also was revealed Friday that the two young Bibas children were beaten to death by Hamas militants. The terror group had claimed that they had died in an Israeli airstrike while in captivity.IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced the grisly findings of a forensic examination of Ariel and Kfir Bibas after their bodies were returned by Hamas.“We can confirm that baby Kfir Bibas, aged just 10 months old and his older brother Ariel, aged four, were both brutally murdered by terrorists while being held hostage in Gaza no later than November 2023,” he said in a video released on social media. “Contrary to Hamas lies, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys. They killed them with their bare hands.”Netanyahu condemned the brutal slaying of the two young children, calling Hamas “monsters.”“Their bodies return to a nation in mourning,” he said in a video posted to X, while holding up a photo of Kfir and Ariel. “A nation that will never forget and never forgive the evil that cut these beautiful souls. Who kidnaps a little boy and a baby and murders them? Monsters. That’s who.”“May God avenge their blood,” Mr. Netanyahu added. “And we will also avenge them.”Despite the anger, Israel has not indicated that it wants to disrupt another hostage release that is set to take place Saturday.The terror organization is due to free six living hostages — including two who have been held captive for a decade — in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, according to The Times of Israel. Among those included are Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who both entered Gaza on their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively, as well as four others who were abducted on October 7, including Tal Shoham and three men taken during the assault on the Nova Music Festival: Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen.Hamas has also said that they would not release the remaining 60 hostages in captivity — half of whom are believed to be deceased — without a lasting cease fire.Mr. Netanyahu took to X to thank Argentinian President Javier Milei for instituting two days of national mourning for the Bibas siblings.”Your exemplary decision to declare two days of national mourning for Kfir and Ariel Bibas — two innocent children brutally murdered by the terrorist monsters of Hamas — should serve as an inspiration to all leaders of the civilized world,” he said in the post. “Thank you for your unwavering integrity and outstanding leadership.”Earlier Friday, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, called the return of the wrong body a “new low” by Hamas and said the state of Israel demands a condemnation of the act from the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly.“There are no words that can describe such an atrocity. Hamas not only murdered Ariel and Kfir Bibas in cold blood — a 4-year-old boy and a 10-month-old baby — but continues to violate every basic moral value even after their death,” Mr. Danon said in a post on X. “Instead of returning Shiri, the mother of Kfir and Ariel, Hamas returned an unidentified body, as if it were a worthless shipment. This is a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel.”Lawmakers in America have also called for Hamas to be held accountable. “This is heartbreaking news. May the memory of Kfir and Ariel Bibas be a blessing,” New York Congressman Mike Lawler said on X. “Hamas must return Shiri Bibas — immediately — or face severe consequences.”Ms. Bibas and her family were among those kidnapped from the Nir Oz Kibbutz during the attack by Hamas forces and the family quickly became a symbol against the brutality levied toward Israel, with videos of their abduction going viral online. In one clip, which was taken by Hamas terrorists, shows a visibly distressed Shiri clutching her two sons wrapped in a blanket in her arms. Kfir was the youngest Israeli hostage taken into Gaza.Photos later released by Hamas showed Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the father of their two children, bloodied and surrounded by armed terrorists. Both of Shiri Bibas’s parents, who also lived on the kibbutz, were killed in the attack. Mr. Bibas was released from Hamas captivity alive on February 1st as part of the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal. A week after his release he issued a statement referencing his wife and two children: “Unfortunately, my family has not yet returned to me. They are still there. My light is still there and as long as they are there, everything is dark here.”
