Hamas and Israel announced yesterday Tuesday the upcoming release, scheduled for Saturday, of six Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, following the repatriation, tomorrow Thursday, of the bodies of four hostages, among which, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement, are those of the last two children it was holding.
The family of the two children, Ariel and Kfir, ages 5 and 2, and their mother, Siri Biba, stressed that they have not received any "official confirmation" that they have passed away.
Hamas announced that it "decided to hand over four bodies" tomorrow, "among which (those) of the Biba family," in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli authorities on Saturday, as provided for in the ceasefire agreement.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that four bodies would be received tomorrow, ahead of the release of six hostages alive on Saturday.
The father of the two children, Yarden Bibas, 35, was released on February 1. The fate of his sons has been a concern for many increasingly anxious Israelis for months.
The family was kidnapped during the Hamas attack on southern Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, on the border with the Gaza Strip. However, Yarden Bibas was held separately.
The images released by Hamas of Siri Bibas clutching her two young boys in front of her house became one of the symbols of the terror experienced by Israel that day. Kfir, then 8,5 months old, was the youngest of the 251 people kidnapped.
“We are distraught by Hamas’s announcement of the “expected return of our beloved Siri, Ariel and Kfir” tomorrow, the family said yesterday. “Until we have irrefutable confirmation, our fight will continue.”
A fragile ceasefire agreement has allowed the guns to fall silent in the Gaza Strip since January 19, after 15 months of devastating war that was sparked by the Hamas offensive.
The talks, which continue to be delayed, on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement are set to begin "this week," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar assured yesterday. The head of Israeli diplomacy stressed that his government demands the "complete demilitarization of Gaza" after the war.
In addition to the handover of the four bodies tomorrow, Hamas's chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, announced the release of the last hostages "alive" as part of the first phase of the agreement, on Saturday (February 22).
The forum of the families of the hostages has released the names of the six Israelis: they are Elia Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, as well as Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Megistu, who have been held hostage for about ten years.
While "we hope," "we remain restrained and pray that Tal returns safely," Tal Shoham's family said.
A total of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of them dead, were expected to be handed over to Israel during the first phase of the deal, which will be completed on March 1, in exchange for the release of 1.900 Palestinians held in Israeli detention centers.
After more than 500 days, 70 people are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, of whom 35 have been declared dead by the Israeli army.
The second phase of the ceasefire agreement provides for the release of all hostages and the definitive end of the war, before the third and final phase, which will be dedicated to the reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave, which has been reduced to ruins.
US President Donald Trump has caused an international outcry by announcing a plan that would see the US "take control" of the Gaza Strip and expel its 2,4 million inhabitants in order to rebuild it, transforming it into what he calls the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Saudi Arabia is expected to host an Arab mini-summit today to react to the plan, which is praised in Israel but rejected by the Palestinians as well as Arab and other governments, before the emergency summit in Cairo on Tuesday, March 4.
Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced the establishment of a "special service" for the "voluntary withdrawal" of Gazans.
Qatar, a mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, stressed yesterday that the future of Gaza is a "Palestinian affair."
In the October 7, 2023 attack on southern sectors of Israeli territory by Hamas militants based in the neighboring Gaza Strip, 1.211 people were killed on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official Israeli data, which includes hostages who died in captivity or were already dead when they were transferred to the enclave.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, and in the large-scale military operations it launched, causing untold destruction in the small coastal region, at least 48.291 people lost their lives, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had opened fire on a suspect who defied warning shots in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. According to a source at a clinic in Khan Younis, the body of a 15-year-old teenager was taken there, as was that of a second victim.
Under the terms of the agreement, aid entering the enclave would have been allowed to increase significantly. But Hamas accuses Israel of continuing to block the entry into the Gaza Strip of prefabricated houses and equipment needed to search the rubble.
Source: protothema
