Latest news with #Bibases
The Guardian
26-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Hamas gives up bodies of four hostages as ceasefire appears to get back on track
Hamas has handed over the bodies of four hostages, and Israel has released some Palestinian prisoners, as a five-week-old ceasefire agreed by the two sides in January appeared to get back on track after a breach that had brought fears of a return to a war in Gaza. The bodies of the hostages were transferred to the Red Cross in southern Gaza and driven to the border point at Kerem Shalom at about midnight. Meanwhile, a convoy of buses carrying Palestinian prisoners arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah. It was unclear how many Palestinians were being released overnight on Wednesday, and whether the exchange would include all 602 prisoners who had been due to be released by Israel on Saturday in exchange for six surviving Israeli hostages. The six hostages had been transferred by Hamas according to the agreed schedule but, as the Palestinian prisoners sat in buses on Saturday night waiting to be transferred, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu at the last moment decided not to release them and returned them to their cells. The government said it had stopped the exchange in protest at what it complained were the propaganda ceremonies Hamas staged to hand over hostages and the remains of the Israelis who had been killed while in captivity. Since then, Hamas agreed to hand over the four hostages' bodies away from the cameras, and in return Netanyahu's government said it would proceed with the prisoner releases. However, the Israeli prison authorities did not specify when the Palestinians would be freed in one go. One Israeli official was quoted in reports as saying that they would be released in batches. The bodies handed over to the Red Cross just after midnight on Thursday morning were named by Hamas as Shlomo Mantzur, Tsachi Idan, Ohad Yahalomi and Itzhak Elgarat. The IDF said the identities of the bodies had not yet been verified. The exchange and the resumption of the ceasefire deal came after a national day of grief in Israel with thousands of Israelis waving flags, holding candles and singing the national anthem, lining the route of a funeral procession for two small children and their mother who were held hostage and died in captivity in Gaza. The bodies of the Bibases were handed over last week by Hamas, which claimed they had been killed by airstrikes. An Israeli autopsy report ruled the children had been murdered by their captors and then mutilated to simulate wounds from bombing. The funeral was held in the town of Tzohar, near the border with Gaza and the kibbutz of Nir Oz, where the family lived. The ceremony was private but mourners lined the road from the central city of Rishon LeZion holding Israeli flags and yellow banners, symbol of the hostage families and supporters, to watch the cortege go by. The children and their mother were to be buried alongside Shiri's parents, who were killed in the Hamas attack on Nir Oz and other Israeli communities on 7 October 2023. Her husband and the boys' father, Yarden, was also taken hostage in the Hamas attack, but was released under the ceasefire deal earlier this month, and discovered only then that his family had been killed. The Bibas family have denounced Netanyahu and members of his government for making public graphic details of the two boys' deaths. 'This is outright abuse of a family that has already been enduring hell for 16 months,' Ofri Bibas, Yarden's sister, said. Describing the funeral procession on Wednesday, she said. 'Through the car window, I see a broken country; we won't recover until the last hostage returns home.' In her address at the funeral, Ofri was bitterly critical of the Netanyahu government for prioritising the destruction of Hamas over an earlier negotiated hostage release. 'Our disaster as a people and as a family should not have happened, and it must not, must not happen again,' she said. 'They could have saved you and preferred revenge.' With the transfer of the four hostages' bodies and the release of the 600 Palestinians, the two side will have completed the obligations for the first six-week phase of the ceasefire. The second phase, due to start at the weekend, includes the release of all remaining hostages, and the complete withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza, but negotiations on the details had not begun just a few days before the weekend deadline. One possibility being studied to keep the ceasefire alive while the second phase is being negotiated is to extend the first phase, but it is yet to be agreed whether more hostages and prisoners would be released during the extension.
New York Times
22-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Live Updates: Hamas Is Set to Release 6 More Hostages
People gathered at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on Thursday, hours after militants turned over four bodies to Israel as part of a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel. For Jonathan Dekel-Chen, every day this week has been a mixture of joy and grief. He is celebrating the return of his son Sagui, who was released over the weekend as part of the cease-fire deal with Hamas. But reminders of Sagui's ordeal, and the torments of the remaining hostages, are impossible to escape. 'Today is a day with very mixed feelings,' Mr. Dekel-Chen said in an interview on Thursday. He had just visited his son in a Tel Aviv-area hospital on a day when Hamas turned over coffins that were said to contain the remains of four of Mr. Dekel-Chen's neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where about a quarter of the 400 residents were either killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. It has been 504 days since the Hamas-led attack, and roughly 60 hostages have yet to come home. 'We need to double down now on getting all the hostages home,' Mr. Dekel-Chen said. The four bodies returned on Thursday were said to include three members of the Bibas family — Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, who was just 10 months old, and their mother, Shiri Bibas. The Bibases came to symbolize the plight of the captives after videos of them being taken to Gaza went viral. But early Friday, the Israeli military announced that the remains in what was said to be Ms. Bibas's coffin did not match the identity of any of the hostages. 'This is a violation of utmost severity,' the military said. The authorities did confirm the children's remains, and those of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was killed in captivity by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Image Hostages being handed over in Khan Younis, Gaza, this month as part of a hostage and prisoner deal. Credit... Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Mr. Lifshitz, a retired journalist, was captured along with his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released weeks into the war for what Hamas called 'humanitarian and health reasons.' She has described abuse and harrowing conditions in Hamas's underground tunnels, warning that other hostages would not be able to endure them. Before the war, Mr. Lifshitz volunteered to drive Gazans seeking medical treatment to hospitals in Israel and was a founding member of a branch of Peace Now, a group advocating a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Dekel-Chen, who was friends with Mr. Lifshitz for decades, said he 'was a man truly committed to his values.' Thousands of Israelis paid tribute to Mr. Lifshitz and the other hostages during a Thursday night rally in what has become known as Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. They were also there to pressure the Israeli government to secure the release of those still being held. Rally speakers demanded that the Netanyahu government not let the cease-fire fall apart. The first phase of the agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect in January and is set to end in less than two weeks. Negotiations on the second phase have been delayed, leaving the fates of dozens of captives up in the air. The fragile truce has led to the release of hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails — but there are concerns among the relatives of hostages that there may not be another round of releases. Yael Adar, whose son Tamir Adar was killed in the attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz and whose body has not been returned from Gaza, spoke at the Thursday rally. She said that when Tamir's son heard that bodies would be returned to Israel this week, he asked if his father would be coming home. 'We told him no, not at this stage. Asaf couldn't understand why there were stages,' she said. Mr. Netanyahu's office said has said that six living hostages would be released on Saturday, instead of three as planned, and that four more bodies would be returned next week. But relatives are anxious. Image A poster showing Shiri Bibas, center, who was kidnapped with her husband and young sons on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas released what it said were her remains, but Israel's military said none of the returned bodies were a match for her. Credit... Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press Hamas's failure to return Ms. Bibas raises new questions about whether the next release of hostages and prisoners on Saturday will proceed and the fate of talks on the second phase of the cease-fire deal. If negotiations on the second phase fail, roughly 60 hostages, some believed to be dead, would most likely remain in Gaza. And if fighting resumes, those who are alive will be in even graver danger. On Monday, a rally in Hostage Square was held to mark the 500th day of captivity for those being held in Gaza. Among the speakers was Yeela David, the sister of Evyatar David, who was taken from the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 attack. 'Phase 2 is the last chance to save the lives of dozens,' she said. 'If this deal falls apart and Phase 2 doesn't begin, it will remain a black stain in the pages of our history.' The hostages that have been freed say there is no time to spare. Keith Siegel's wife drove that point home during the Monday rally at Hostage Square. Mr. Siegel was held in Gaza for nearly 500 days, six months of which were spent locked in a small room alone. He was beaten, threatened at gunpoint and reduced by his captors to 'nothing,' in the words of his wife, Aviva. Image Aviva Siegel last year with a photograph of her husband, Keith Siegel, who was released this month. 'He went through 484 days of hell,' she said. Credit... Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times He ate only moldy pita bread, lost 65 pounds and some days thought he would not survive, Ms. Siegel said, describing details of her husband's experience for the first time. 'He went through 484 days of hell no human being should ever have to experience,' said Ms. Siegel, who was also taken hostage. She was released during a brief truce in November 2023. 'I was in Gaza. I survived. Keith survived. Others will not,' Ms. Siegel warned. It was a theme repeated by other former captives, including Iair Horn, 46, who was freed on Saturday along with two other hostages in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners. He appeared in a video message at the Monday rally, recorded about 48 hours after his return to Israel, to plead for his brother, Eitan Horn, who was still in Gaza and was not slated to be freed in the first phase of the agreement. 'I was there. I was in Hamas's tunnels. I experienced it firsthand,' Iair Horn said. 'And I'm telling you, the hostages don't have time. They must be brought back now.' Since his return, he said, people kept asking what he needs. 'I answer them, 'I need only one thing: Bring back my brother. Bring back my brother and all the hostages.''
New York Times
21-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
As Truce Talks Stall, Fears Mount for Israeli Hostages in Gaza After 500 Days
For Johnathan Dekel-Chen, every day this week has been a mixture of joy and grief. He is celebrating the return of his son Sagui, who was released over the weekend as part of the cease-fire deal with Hamas. But reminders of Sagui's ordeal, and the torments of the remaining hostages, are impossible to escape. 'Today is a day with very mixed feelings,' Mr. Dekel-Chen said in an interview on Thursday. He had just visited his son in a Tel Aviv-area hospital on a day when Hamas turned over coffins that were said to contain the remains of four of Mr. Dekel-Chen's neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where about a quarter of the 400 residents were either killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. It has been 504 days since the Hamas-led attack, and roughly 60 hostages have yet to come home. 'We need to double down now on getting all the hostages home,' Mr. Dekel-Chen said. The four bodies returned on Thursday were said to include three members of the Bibas family — Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, who was just 10 months old, and their mother, Shiri Bibas. The Bibases came to symbolize the plight of the captives after videos of them being taken to Gaza went viral. But early Friday, the Israeli military announced that the remains in what was said to be Ms. Bibas's coffin did not match the identity of any of the hostages. 'This is a violation of utmost severity,' the military said. The authorities did confirm the children's remains, and those of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was killed in captivity by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. Hostages being handed over in Khan Younis, Gaza, this month as part of a hostage and prisoner deal. Credit... Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
