Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire deal after forensic testing revealed the body returned from Gaza on Thursday was not that of Shiri Bibas.

The three other bodies handed over have been identified as her sons, Ariel and Kfir, who would have been aged five and two, and peace activist Oded Lifschitz, 84, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

But the fourth body was not Shiri nor another hostage, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleging that Hamas “put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin”.

A Hamas spokesman, Ismail al-Thwabta, said on X on Friday that Shiri’s remains seem to have been mixed up with other bodies under the rubble of a structure after an Israeli air strike.

The group told Reuters news agency they would investigate what had led to the wrong remains being sent to Israel.

They also reiterated their previous statement which said the children and their mother were killed in an Israeli bombing.

However, Israel on Thursday said the boys “were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023”, according to intelligence and forensics.

Israel demanded that Hamas return Shiri along with the other remaining hostages.

“Whether she is alive or not, they need to bring back Shiri Bibas,” IDF international spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

Netanyahu said “we will act with determination to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement”.

The IDF posted on X that “during the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body.”

“This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organisation, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it was “horrified and devastated by the news that their mother, Shiri, was not returned—despite the agreement and our desperate hopes”.

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were aged 32, four and nine months when they were kidnapped during the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. They have become a symbol for many in Israel and news of their deaths was met with an outpouring of grief.

The children’s father Yarden Bibas, 34, was released by Hamas on 1 February.

Israel has confirmed that the fourth body returned on Thursday was that of veteran peace activist, Oded Lifschitz.

BBC