Israel mourns Bibas family as Hamas signals breakthrough on hostages
Hamas to release bodies of 4 Israeli hostages Wednesday, prepare for Palestinian prisoners' release
Israelis on Wednesday mourned the Bibas family, which symbolized the trauma the country suffered in the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, as the Palestinian militant group agreed to free the last hostage bodies included in the initial phase of the Gaza ceasefire.
Hamas said the bodies of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur would be released on Wednesday night, and added that a hospital in Gaza was preparing to receive Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said an agreement was reached for the handover of bodies of four deceased hostages, but it did not name them.
The resolution came on the same day as the funeral of the Bibas family following the handover of the bodies of nine-month-old Kfir Bibas, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother, Shiri, last week.
The youngest hostages seized during the attack on Israel by gunmen from Hamas were killed weeks after they were abducted into Gaza.
Hamas says the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike but Israel says it has intelligence and forensic evidence that shows they were killed by their captors using their bare hands.
Thousands of people, some in tears, carrying blue and white Israeli flags or photographs of the family, walked in procession or waited as a convoy bearing the coffins passed on their way to the funeral. Many were carrying orange balloons, a new symbol of mourning for the hostages, matching the red hair of the two Bibas boys.
"It's horrific and it's something that is very difficult to come to terms with, said 53-year-old clinical psychologist Lihie Gilhar in Rishon Lezion. "It's the little bit that we can do to show our solidarity with the family," she said.
Yarden Bibas, the father of the boys, who was captured separately from his family and released during an exchange of hostages and prisoners earlier this month, paid tribute in an emotional eulogy at their funeral.
"Do you remember our last conversation together? In the safe room, I asked if we should fight or surrender. You said fight, so I fought," Yarden Bibas said, speaking directly to his wife. "Shiri, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn't have fought."
Then he spoke of his elder son, Ariel: "I hope you know I thought about you every day, every minute."
"I'm sure you're making all the angels laugh with your silly jokes and impressions," he added, envisioning the boy in paradise. "I hope there are plenty of butterflies for you to watch, just like you did during our picnics."
He also addressed his youngest son. "Kfir, I'm sorry I didn't protect you better," he said. "I miss nibbling on you and hearing your laughter."
Breakthrough secured
The Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, and several among them were Canadian citizens. Israel's subsequent military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Under the deal, Hamas agreed to hand over 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from some of their positions in Gaza as well as a massive influx of aid.
On Wednesday, Egyptian mediators confirmed they had secured a breakthrough that should allow the handover of the final four hostage bodies due in the first phase of the deal this week, after a days-long impasse.
Hamas confirmed an agreement had been reached for the exchange of hostages for prisoners, but said their release would be conducted under a new mechanism.
The group said the European Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza was preparing to receive prisoners after their release, which could come as early as Wednesday night.
The Israeli Prison Service said it had received the list of prisoners and detainees and that preparations were underway for their release.
An Israeli official said the bodies of the hostages were expected to be handed over around 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET). Netanyahu's office said their release would not include a Hamas ceremony.
The Hamas-staged ceremonies in which living hostages and coffins carrying hostage remains have been displayed on stage before a crowd in Gaza have drawn increasing criticism, including from the United Nations.
Ceasefire to expire in days
With a 42-day truce due to expire on Saturday, it remains unclear whether an extension will be agreed or whether negotiations can begin on a second stage of the deal, which would see the release of the final 59 hostages left in Gaza.
Hamas said that, so far, it had not received any proposal for the second stage.
Israel had refused to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday after accusing Hamas of breaching the ceasefire deal by staging what it considered an offensive public handover of hostages in Gaza.
Days earlier, the agreement was held up briefly when Hamas handed over the remains of an unidentified woman instead of Shiri Bibas before delivering the correct body the next day.
Despite numerous hiccups, the ceasefire deal has so far held up but moving to a second phase would require agreements on issues that have proved impossible to bridge in the past, including the postwar future of Gaza and Hamas.
Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by several Western countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a plan to permanently resettle the population of more than two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and to turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East" under U.S. control.
Egypt and Jordan, floated by Trump as possible destinations, reject the idea of annexing land and displacing Palestinians. Sandwiched between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and the occupied West Bank, Jordan is already home to more than two million Palestinian refugees in its population of 11 million.
Trump, in a Fox News interview last week, said he was "a little surprised" by that reaction, because "we pay Jordan and Egypt billions of dollars a year."
"But I'm not forcing it," said Trump. "I'm just going to sit back and recommend it."
Resettling the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip to other regions would be a time bomb for the Middle East, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday in Qatar.
With files from CBC News and The Associated Press