Hamas‘ official acknowledged that Israel may not have correctly identified the remains it had handed over as part of a fragile ceasefire deal. The Hamas official also accused Israel for mishandling Palestinian corpses returned during the war. The Hamas official acknowledged that the remains handed over to Israel as part of the ceasefire agreement may have been misidentified. He also accused Israel of handling the return Palestinian bodies during the conflict in a negligent manner.
Naim, an official of Hamas’ senior wing said: “We affirm that it does not serve our values and interests to hold any body or to not abide by covenants or agreements we sign.”
Hamas has been accused of violating the conditions of the hostage swap and temporary truce by both Israel and America. Israeli officials have determined that the Hamas body transferred on Thursday is not the Israeli hostage taken in the attacks of October 7, 2023. In the aftermath of the horrific October 7th terror attacks that resulted in 1,200 deaths and over 250 captured hostages, this sparked the current conflict.
Naim responded to these claims by saying that Israeli soldiers had also treated Palestinian remains with a disrespectful attitude.
Naim reminded the world, “We received thousands of dead bodies in blue baggies from the Zionist enemy without any identification or respect for human life,” and that “we did not receive any condemnation from official international officials, nor did the western media care much about Palestinian human right.” In the Middle East, returning Palestinian remains has become a highly sensitive issue.
What is the significance of Bibas Family Hostages and other Hostages?
This situation is especially sensitive because the Bibas family, including 9-month old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old Ariel Bibas as well as their mother Shiri Bibas (33) has been waiting for the return. Oded Lifschitz, 83, was also due to be repatriated on Thursday. Negotiations have centered around the issue of Kfir Bibas’s and Ariel Bibas’s return.
Both sides are blaming each other for the death of Bibas’ family. Israeli officials blame Hamas’s imprisonment for the deaths of the Bibas family, while Hamas insists that they died as a result of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Hamas claimed that the Israelis were responsible for killing all four of its hostages.
Daniel Hagari, IDF’s spokesperson on Friday, said that contrary to Hamas’s claims, Ariel Bibas and Kfir Bibas were not killed by an airstrike. Terrorists murdered Ariel Bibas and Kfir in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys—they killed them with their bare hands.”
IDF: “They then committed horrible acts in an attempt to hide these atrocities.” This assessment was based both on forensic evidence from the identification process and the intelligence supporting the findings.
Israel’s anger over the apparent refusal to return Shiri’s remains is heightened by images from Hamas’s ceremony of handover, where provocative imagery, such as a bloody and fanged depiction Benjamin Netanyahu, was displayed. Images of Prime Minister Netanyahu have been an issue in the international community for a long time.
Doubts exist about the fate of the truce that expires on the 1st of March. Both sides are accused of violating the ceasefire. The negotiations towards the second phase of peace talks, originally proposed by former President Joe Biden and intended to promote a lasting agreement, are yet to begin.
Israel rejected Hamas’ demands that it commit to not re-start the war following the expiration of the ceasefire. The IDF had already intensified operations in West Bank and escalated tensions. It is possible that a new conflict will break out.
The Key Figures
Israel reports that 251 Israelis were taken hostage by Hamas on October 20, 2023. 66 of these hostages, or about half, are thought to be still alive in Gaza. It is still unclear how many Israelis are being held hostage in Gaza. Israeli officials say that the Hamas led attack killed around 1,200 people – mainly civilians – with more than 400 IDF troops dying in the following war.
Gaza’s Palestinian Health Ministry reports that nearly 48.300 people have died in this conflict. It does not differentiate between combatants or non-combatants. Hamas denies these claims. The IDF believes it killed as many as 20,000 Hamas members, which includes a significant portion of the core leadership. These official figures have also been disputed.
The ceasefire agreement, outlined first by Biden before being implemented just a few days prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration represents the most comprehensive effort to date in ending the conflict. Significant disagreements such as those over the future of leadership in Gaza cast doubt on the road to peace. Future leadership in Gaza is a controversial issue.
Trump has reiterated his commitment to ending the conflict, but shares Netanyahu’s view that Hamas cannot govern Gaza. Trump has suggested that Palestinians be relocated outside Gaza, and the U.S. could even assume direct control over the territory in order to explore development possibilities. Direct U.S. Control is unprecedented.
Reactions and statements
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated: Today the skies are shaking. All civilized nations should condemn the horrific crimes. Join Israel and the entire civilized community in calling for the release of the hostages. “All of Israel shares the same grief.”
As Prime Minister of Israel I swear that I won’t rest until those savages, who killed our hostages, are brought to trial. The savages who executed our hostages do not deserve this world. I will not be stopped by anything. Nothing.”
Hamas released a Friday statement saying: The mediators have given us the occupation’s claims and allegations. We are going to examine these with great seriousness and will announce the result.
We also mention the possibility that the bombing and targeting of the area where (Bibas’) family were with other Palestinians may have caused an error in the body count.
We will tell the mediators the findings of our investigation and examination, while at the same we demand the return of a body which the occupation says belongs to a Palestinian who died in the Zionist attack.
Adam Boehler, the U.S. ambassador for hostages spoke this Friday on CNN: “It’s horrific. The violation is clear. Hamas, if you want my advice now, don’t just release [Shiri’s] body immediately, but we have the bodies of four Americans that are still there and we have one American, Edan Alexander, … he needs to come home. “If I were in their shoes, I’d free everyone or else they would be facing total destruction now.”
Look Ahead
Trump said earlier in the month that “all hell will break loose” if Hamas does not free all its hostages. This was after Hamas threatened to defer a planned prisoner exchange because of alleged Israeli ceasefire violation. The resumption in exchanges appeared initially to have abated this threat. However, recent controversy over the misidentification Shiri’s body threatens to again obstruct the next phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The *Times of Israel* reported on Friday that three individuals have been arrested in association with the bombings so far. Three individuals, two Jewish Israelis and one Palestinian, have been arrested so far in relation to the bombings.