INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Israel on 7 October 2023.It has said they include a mother and two children from the Bibas family, whose unknown fate has gripped Israel
The youngest child, Kfir, was nine months old.Hamas says the fourth body is that of Oded Lifshitz, 84, a veteran peace activist.It will mark
news - though unconfirmed by the Israeli government - that Shiri Bibas, 33, and her sons (who would now be aged five and two) are dead
triggered an outpouring of grief across the country
The government says it will only confirm the names of the dead after forensic examinations.In a statement, the Bibas family in Israel said
be handed over, though the Red Cross, which has received the hostages so far released alive by Hamas, has called for a dignified
follows widespread denunciation of the way in which Hamas has released hostages in recent weeks in staged events where they have been put on
platforms in front on crowds of spectators before being handed over to the Red Cross representatives.It is not known how Shiri, Kfir and his
brother Ariel - if confirmed - died
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that they had been killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence
the father, Yarden, from kibbutz Nir Oz when hundreds of Hamas gunmen burst through the border with Israel and attacked communities,
security forces sites and a music festival.About 1,200 people - mostly civilians - were killed in the attack and 251 others taken back to
Israel launched a massive military campaign against Hamas in response, which has killed at least 48,297 Palestinians - mainly civilians -
according to the Hamas-run health ministry.Yarden Bibas, 35, was released on 1 February along with two other hostages as part of an exchange
for 183 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist, was also taken from Nir Oz, along with this wife, Yocheved
The eighty-five year-old woman was freed by Hamas two weeks later.Oded Lifshitz had been held by the armed Palestinian group Islamic Jihad
Israel has confirmed there will be eight.The two sides agreed to exchange 33 hostages for about 1,900 prisoners by the end of the first six
weeks of the ceasefire.Talks on progressing to the next phase of the deal - under which the remaining living hostages would be released and
the war would end permanently - were due to start earlier this month but have not yet begun.Twenty-four hostages and over 1,000 prisoners
