A fresh wound on an already extensive one that remains unhealed. Five hundred and three days following the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, the first bodies of deceased hostages were returned by the Islamist group and transported from the Gaza Strip to Tel Aviv on Thursday, February 20. Four coffins were expected to hold the remains of the oldest captive, Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 at the time of his abduction, alongside the two youngest victims, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, aged 9 months and 4 years respectively, who were united in death with their mother, Shiri, aged 32 in 2023. All were residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, situated in close proximity to the Palestinian enclave and severely affected by the Hamas commando attack, which resulted in approximately 30 fatalities and over 70 hostages taken.
Although the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv has officially identified the Bibas children and their co-founder, Oded Lifshitz, who lives in this 400-person community, their mother has not. The Israeli army declared Thursday night that the fourth body was that of an unidentified woman after an autopsy. “No match was found for any other hostage, and the additional body that was received is not Shiri Bibas’s. It condemned “a violation of utmost severity” of the ceasefire agreement by Hamas and stated, “This is an anonymous, unidentified body.”
see more: Vietnam government publishes map of its Gulf of Tonkin baseline
About The Author
