![Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in Khan Yunis, Gaza on February 20, 2025. [Ashraf Amra - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AA-20250220-37108910-37108904-HAMAS_HANDS_OVER_BODIES_OF_4_ISRAELI_HOSTAGES_UNDER_GAZA_CEASEFIRE_DEAL-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Palestinian resistance factions have provided safe shelter to Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her children and treated them humanely, but their army killed them, a Palestinian commander said on Thursday, Anadolu reports.
Hamas handed over the bodies of Shiri, her two children; Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Thursday under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.
The Palestinian group said the four captives were killed in indiscriminate Israeli bombardment during Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
“Shiri had served in the Israeli army’s Southern Command and worked in Unit 8200, Israel’s elite electronic intelligence division,” the commander of the Mujahideen Brigades, the military wing of the Mujahideen Movement, said during the handover ceremony of the four killed hostages.
READ: Hamas hands over bodies of 4 captives killed during Israel’s bombing of Gaza
“Upon her capture, we placed Shiri’s children with her out of compassion, provided them with a safe and comfortable shelter, and treated them humanely as our Islamic faith commands,” he said.
“But due to the indiscriminate and brutal bombing by the Israeli army, they were killed along with their captors,” he added.
Unlike the corpses of Palestinian bodies whose remains were returned by Israel piled in bags without proper identification, the bodies of the four Israeli captives were placed in separate caskets with identification details.
The Gaza ceasefire deal took effect last month, halting Israel’s genocidal war that has killed over 48,300 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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