Sebastian UsherMiddle East analyst
The handover of the four bodies was again a choreographed event by Hamas – this time in the devastated landscape of the southern city of Khan Younis.
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Hamas fighters and other armed factions stood in serried ranks as four coffins were handed over to the Red Cross, which had asked for the process to be done in a private and dignified manner.
When the caskets were given over to Israel, the military chief rabbi recited prayers over them. Israelis have been lining the route in the cold and heavy rain that will take the bodies to Tel Aviv. The whole country is in mourning.
Shiri Bibas and her two young children have long been the most potent symbol in Israel of the horror of 7 October 2023 – and the ordeal of the hostages who were taken into captivity in Gaza.
As we just reported, a convoy of vehicles carrying the bodies of four hostages is now in southern Israel.
Live pictures show the vehicles driving along the route to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Jaffa, where the Israeli military says the bodies will be formally identified.
The Israeli military says it has brought the coffins of the four hostages into Israel from Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will now transfer them to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Jaffa for formal identification.
“IDF representatives are accompanying their families at this difficult time,” it says in a statement.
As a reminder, Hamas says the bodies of the hostages being returned to Israel belong to Oded Lifschitz, 84, and three members of the Bibas family.
Shiri Bibas was taken from Israel with her two children, Ariel and Kfir – then four and nine months old – during the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks.
Hamas claimed that all three were killed in an Israeli strike in November 2023, without providing evidence. The BBC hasn’t been able to independently verify this, and Israel says it will not confirm their deaths before forensic testing.
Isaac Herzog has released a statement after Israel received the bodies of four hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
In a post on X, he says:
“Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts – the hearts of an entire nation – lie in tatters.
“On behalf of the state of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.
“May their memory be a blessing.”
People have begun arriving at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, following the transfer of the bodies of four hostages to Israeli forces in Gaza.
Many are holding Israeli flags decorated with yellow ribbons – a symbol of solidarity and support for the hostages and their families.
The Israeli prime minister’s office says the bodies of the four hostages have been transferred to Israeli forces in Gaza.
In a statement, it adds that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will now take them to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Jaffa for formal identification.
It says the families of the deceased hostages will be officially notified once their deaths have been confirmed after testing.
It asks that the families’ privacy to be respected.
We’re now seeing live shots from southern Israel. A small crowd is gathered on a road side, many of them holding up Israeli flags.
As our world affairs correspondent Paul Adams said earlier, supporters of the hostages and their families have invited the public to line the route of the army convoy from the edge of Gaza to a forensic institute in Jaffa.
Shortly before the bodies of the four hostages were transferred to the Red Cross, Hamas released a statement in which it repeated its claim that the four hostages whose bodies are being returned today were killed in Israeli strikes.
For context: Hamas claimed in November 2023 the three members of the Bibas family had been killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence. Israel has not confirmed this.
The group says it did “everything in [its] power to protect” the hostages and “preserve their lives”.
It says Israel’s “brutal and continuous bombardment prevented them from being able to rescue all” the hostages.
Addressing the families of the hostages directly, Hamas says it would have preferred to have returned them alive.
“You were a victim of a leadership that does not care about its children,” it adds.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has just confirmed that the Red Cross has picked up the “four caskets of the deceased hostages”.
It says they are now being brought to them and members of Israel Security Agency (ISA) in Gaza.
The Red Cross convoy is seen driving away from the square after receiving the four coffins from Hamas.
People are running alongside the vehicles, before the convoy disappears from view.
The Red Cross will soon hand over the bodies to members of the Israel Defense Forces.
One by one, the three remaining hostages’ coffins are carried down from the stage, taken across the square, and lifted into the Red Cross vehicles.
Four vehicles are seen lining up, before they begin driving away.
A large crowd is watching on and Hamas members stand by holding weapons.
Our live feeds show one of the coffins has now been removed from the stage.
Four men are seen carrying it towards the Red Cross vehicle, which is partially obscured from view by white screens.
The vehicle is then seen driving away from the square.
Several Red Cross workers can now be seen taking out white screens from their vehicles.
They appear to be setting them up close to one of the cars, to shield it from the view of the crowds.
The remaining Red Cross vehicles – we can see four currently – are seen parked up a few metres away, separated from the first by a large group of people.
Paul AdamsWorld affairs correspondent
This is the moment all Israelis have been dreading: the return of the dead, from the very youngest to the very oldest.
For many, the focus will be on the Bibas family – Shiri and her two young red-headed boys, Ariel and Kfir. The image of a terrified Shiri, cradling her boys in her arms during her abduction on 7 October 2023, was one of the most searing to emerge from that day.
Hamas has long claimed that all three were killed during an Israeli airstrike early in the war. Israelis have clung to the hope that somehow all three survived.
Also being returned today, according to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, is the body of Oded Lifschitz, a veteran journalist and peace activist in his mid-eighties.
His wife, Yocheved, was released in late October 2023, saying she had “been through hell” and had confronted the Hamas military chief, Yahya Sinwar, and told him he should be “ashamed of himself.”
The pictures of Oded Lifschitz and the Bibas family stare out from the front pages of this morning’s papers. Israel will only confirm their return once forensic tests have been completed, adding to the agony of the day.
Supporters of the hostages and their families have invited members of the public to line the route of an army convoy from the edge of the Gaza Strip to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Jaffa.
On Saturday, Israelis are expecting to celebrate the return of six more living hostages. But today, a heavy blanket of grief has descended over the country.
Live pictures from Khan Younis now show what appears to be a Red Cross worker and a Hamas member signing documents at a table on the same stage where the coffins have been laid.
Images now show four black coffins lined up on a stage set up in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza.
As we just reported, a convoy of Red Cross vehicles has arrived. They are surrounded by crowds.
Over a live feed from Khan Younis, we can see a convoy of Red Cross vehicles driving towards a square where crowds have gathered ahead of the expected return of four hostages.
We’re watching developments closely. You can see the latest pictures at the top of this page.
We reported earlier that the fourth body due to be returned is that of Oded Lifschitz, 84, according to Hamas.
The retired journalist and veteran peace activist was taken from kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, along with this wife, Yocheved, 85. She was freed by Hamas two weeks later.
Lifschitz had been held by the armed Palestinian group Islamic Jihad since 7 October 2023.
Yocheved has previously said she and her husband were kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on motorbikes and taken into a “spider’s web” of tunnels underneath Gaza.
After the ceasefire deal was negotiated last month, his daughter Sharone Lifschitz, a UK-Israeli citizen, told the BBC she hoped her father was still alive.
“Miracles do happen,” she said from her east London home.
