Hamas on Friday said it had turned over to the Red Cross the body of a woman that Hamas officials believe belonged to Shiri Bibas, the Israeli mother whose capture with her two young sons during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack became a symbol of the country’s anguish.
Ms. Bibas’s remains were initially believed to have to been repatriated to Israel on Thursday, with those of her two children, as part of a negotiated exchange for Palestinian prisoners. With a DNA test, Israeli officials then determined the body was that of another person and not Ms. Bibas.
“Tonight, at the request of the parties, an ICRC team received human remains, which were then transferred to Israeli authorities,” The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday, adding, “The ICRC cannot confirm any additional details.”
The Israeli military said that news reports of the repatriation were under review.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, said in a text message that the body returned on Friday was believed to be that of Ms. Bibas. Another Hamas official, who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive arrangement, confirmed the handoff and similarly said it was Hamas’s understanding that they had turned over the right body this time.
A third Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi told the television network Al Araby TV that Hamas had turned over remains of Ms. Bibas.
It was not immediately clear that Hamas had handed over the correct body on Friday.
Friday’s statements, less than 24 hours after Hamas provided Israel with the wrong remains, were the latest development in a series of crises that have made up the first phase of a cease-fire with Hamas. So far, 19 living Israeli hostages have been traded for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Despite recriminations from both sides, the cease-fire has held for a month. And Hamas’s rapid effort to find and return the body of Ms. Bibas was a sign that it did not want to bear responsibility for endangering the agreement ahead of the next transfer, planned for Saturday.
On Thursday, Hamas said it had handed over the remains of four hostages: Ms. Bibas, who at the time of her capture was 32; her two children, Ariel, then 4, and Kfir Bibas, then 9 months; and Oded Lifshitz, 83. The handoff was staged in front of crowds in Khan Younis, and each casket bore a photo of a hostage.
Israeli officials brought the remains to a forensic institute in Tel Aviv, where the identities of Ariel, Kfir and Mr. Lifshitz were confirmed.
But early on Friday, Israel said that one of the bodies Hamas handed over was not that of Ms. Bibas. The Israeli military called the finding a “violation of the utmost severity” of the cease-fire. In a statement, Hamas acknowledged the possibility of a mistake or a “mixing up of corpses.”
The first phase of the cease-fire deal is set to expire in less than two weeks, and Israel and Hamas have yet to agree on terms to extend the agreement into the next phase.
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