Hamas official says likely body of Shiri Bibas 'mistakenly mixed' with others in Gaza rubble
A poster shows Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons on Oct 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, on Feb 21, 2025. (Photo: AP/Mahmoud Illean)
GAZA CITY: A Hamas official told AFP on Friday (Feb 21) that it was likely the body of captive Shiri Bibas had been "mistakenly mixed" with others who were killed and buried under the rubble in Gaza.
"It is likely that Mrs Bibas' body was mistakenly mixed with others found under the rubble," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the group was "investigating" the issue.
This came after Israel stated that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas on Thursday was not that of Bibas, as the militants had claimed.
Hamas handed over bodies it said were of four hostages, including three members of the Bibas family - Shiri Bibas and her two young sons - along with an elderly captive.
While the identities of the Bibas boys - Kfir and Ariel - and the elderly hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were confirmed by Israeli forensic experts, the fourth body was not that of Shiri Bibas, according to Israeli officials.
Israel has so far not confirmed the death of Shiri Bibas.
The Hamas official said that the group had informed the mediators in November 2023 that it was ready to hand over the bodies of the three Bibas family members.
"Mediators were informed at the time and it was also announced in a statement when the Bibas family was killed along with their captors in an Israeli air strike," the official said.
"Hamas had offered to hand over their bodies in November 2023, but (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu refused at the time."
Israel and Netanyahu have repeatedly dismissed these claims from Hamas and on Friday the prime minister said in a statement that forensic tests had determined that the Bibas children were "brutally murdered in Hamas captivity and were not killed by Israel Defense Forces (Israeli military) bombings".
The two Bibas boys had become symbols of the hostage crisis along with their mother Shiri Bibas.
During their attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza war, Hamas filmed and later broadcast footage showing the Bibas family's abduction from their home near the Gaza border.
Ariel was then aged four, while Kfir was the youngest hostage at just nine months old.
Their father Yarden Bibas, who was also seized during the attack, was released earlier this month.
