JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge Friday for what he described as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement after authorities determined that a body released by Hamas was not an Israeli mother of two small boys, as the militant group had promised.
The incident raised new doubts about the future of the fragile ceasefire deal, which has paused over 15 months of war but is nearing the end of its first phase. In the short term, though, there were indications that the deal's next step — the release of six living Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners — would proceed as planned.
Hamas suggested in a statement Friday that a mix-up of remains might have occurred after Israel bombed the area where both the Israeli hostages and Palestinians were present. The group said it would “conduct a thorough review.”
Later on Friday, the Red Cross said in a short statement it had received human remains inside Gaza and transferred them to Israeli authorities. The remains were expected to be taken to Israel’s national forensics lab for testing. It was not immediately known how long it would take to confirm identification.
Speaking during a phone interview with Al Araby, a Qatar-based television network, Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi confirmed the militants handed over the body of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.
Dr. Salem Attalah, deputy secretary general for the Palestinian Mujahedeen Brigades, said it handed over Bibas’ remains to the Red Cross. The militant group, which collaborates with Palestinian Islamic Jihad inside Gaza, is thought to have been holding the mother and her two boys, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.
In other developments, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he will not try to muscle through his plan for the United States to take over and rebuild the Gaza Strip into a tourist destination, displacing Palestinians. The plan was welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries.
Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said it would go ahead with the release of the six Israeli hostages Saturday.
Hamas turned over four bodies Thursday as part of the ceasefire deal. They were supposed to have been those of Shiri Bibas, her sons, Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that ignited the war.
Israeli authorities said they had positively identified the remains of the two boys and of Lifshitz. However, the fourth body was determined to be that of an unidentified woman from Gaza.
“We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said. “The sacred memory of Oded Lifshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. May God avenge their blood. And so we will avenge.”
Hamas said it had “no interest in retaining any bodies,” adding that it had “demonstrated full compliance with the agreement” in recent days and remained "committed to all its terms.”
“We reject Netanyahu’s threats, which serve only to manipulate Israeli public opinion,” Hamas said, calling on mediators to ensure the continued implementation of the ceasefire. The group also called for the return of the unidentified remains.
Netanyahu's vow for revenge was rejected by the aunt of the Bibas children, who said Israeli officials had failed to protect them on the day of the attack and then abandoned them in captivity.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we did not receive an apology from you in this painful moment,” Ofri Bibas Levy said in a video statement released Friday by a group representing the families of hostages. “We are not seeking revenge right now. We are asking for Shiri.”
The confusion over the body’s identity was a shocking twist in the saga of the Bibas family, which has been widely viewed as a symbol of the Israeli hostages' plight.
During the ceasefire, which began in January, Hamas has been releasing living hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails. Thursday’s release marked the first time the group has returned the remains of dead hostages.
The Israeli army said Thursday that the fourth body released by Hamas was an “anonymous, unidentified body.” It said the Bibas family had been notified, including Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and father of the two boys, who had been taken captive separately from his wife and children and was released early this month as part of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas has claimed Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas and her sons were killed in Israeli airstrikes. But Israel said tests found the two boys and Lifshitz were killed by their captors.
U.S. envoy Adam Boehler described the release of the wrong body as “horrific” and a “clear violation” of the ceasefire.
“If I were them, I’d release everybody or they are going to face total annihilation,” Boehler, who serves as the U.S. envoy for hostages, told CNN.
The six Israeli men set for release Saturday are expected to be the last living hostages freed during the ceasefire’s first phase.
They include Eliya Cohen, 27; Omer Shem Tov, 22; and Omer Wenkert, 23. All three were abducted from a music festival during the Oct. 7 attack. Tal Shoham, 40, who was taken from the community of Kibbutz Beeri, is also set to be released.
In addition, Avera Mengistu, 39, and Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, who have been held since crossing into Gaza on their own years ago, are scheduled to be returned. The names, released by Hamas, were confirmed earlier this week by the Hostages and Missing Families forum, the group representing hostage families.
More than 600 Palestinians jailed in Israel will be freed in exchange, the Palestinian prisoners media office said Friday. The prisoners set for release include 50 serving life sentences, 60 with long sentences, 47 who were released under a previous hostage-for-prisoner exchange and 445 prisoners from Gaza arrested since the war began.
Hamas has said it will also release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase of the ceasefire. It is unclear whether the truce will be extended.
In a potential blow to the deal, a series of explosions struck three parked, empty buses in central Israel overnight.
There were no injuries and no claim of responsibility. But the Israeli military said in response that it was beefing up its forces in the West Bank, raising the likelihood of further escalation in the area. Israel has been carrying out a broad military offensive in the occupied territory since the ceasefire took effect.
If the current phase of the ceasefire goes according to plan, Hamas would retain about 60 hostages living and dead. About half — all men — are believed to be alive.
Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he’s committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
Trump’s proposal to permanently remove about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and develop it has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.
In his latest comments, Trump said that he was “a little surprised” by Egypt and Jordan's rejection of the idea and that he would not impose it.
“I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,” Trump said in a Fox News interview.
Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes that the war will resume.
Israel’s military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.
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Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Areej Hazboun, The Associated Press
