{"id":127186,"date":"2025-02-20T08:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T08:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/gaza-latest-bodies-of-four-israeli-hostages-being-released-by-hamas-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T08:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T08:14:11","slug":"gaza-latest-bodies-of-four-israeli-hostages-being-released-by-hamas-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/gaza-latest-bodies-of-four-israeli-hostages-being-released-by-hamas-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza latest: Bodies of four Israeli hostages being released by Hamas – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hamas has released the bodies of four Israeli hostages – including a mother and her two children. Six living hostages will be released under the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel at the weekend. Follow live updates.
Thursday 20 February 2025 08:06, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
As Hamas hands over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, dozens of Israeli flags have been set up in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.
People can also be seen embracing in the pictures below.
The Red Cross has received all four coffins and its convoy is making its way back across the border to Israel.
There, the bodies will be sent to a forensic institute for formal identification. 
The return of the bodies of four Israeli hostages is a “sombre moment” for everybody in Israel and Jews across the world, our international correspondent Diana Magnay<\/a> says.
She says the two young boys, Ariel and Kfir, “really became a symbol of the tremendous suffering 7 October caused”.
“Now, to have them returned back in this way is tragic,” she adds.
Referring to the scenes we’re witnessing as the coffins are being transferred to the Red Cross, Magnay says Hamas has chosen to use this “as a propaganda opportunity”.
“They have missiles on the stage where the four coffins were, saying they were killed by US bombs,” she explains.
As we mentioned in our 7.34am post, Hamas has deliberately placed the coffins in front of a screen which blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deaths of the hostages. 
Magnay says Hamas’s main message is “this was caused by you, you should take responsibility for it”.
But she says 7 October was caused by Hamas, and has brought “untold suffering to both Israel and Palestinians”.
Members of Hamas have picked up and carried the first coffin across to the Red Cross vans. 
The vans are surrounded by crowds, with armed Hamas militants keeping people back. 
The Red Cross have put up some white screens to block the view, and drape the coffin in a white blanket before putting it in the back of the van – which drives away. 
The other three coffins remain on the stage. 
We’re keeping a close eye on developments in Khan Younis, where we’ve just seen the four coffins for the first time. 
They are pictured in front of a large board criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who the group claims is ultimately responsible for the deaths of the hostages by continuing the war in Gaza.
The four hostages were all killed in captivity in Gaza having been abducted on 7 October by Hamas.
Shortly afterward, a member of the Red Cross went on stage and began signing documents with a Hamas militant. 
As we’ve just seen, Red Cross vehicles have arrived in Khan Younis to carry the bodies of four hostages, including a mother and her two children, out of Gaza and home into Israel.
Shiri Bibas and her two children – four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir – were kidnapped separately from her husband, Yarden Bibas, during the 7 October Hamas attacks.
Yarden Bibas was released on 1 February as part of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israel has said it is extremely concerned about the condition of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir – but has never confirmed their deaths.
Hamas leader Khalil al Hayya said on Tuesday that the Bibas family would be among four bodies to be handed over.
The militant group also plans to release the body of peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted.
Hamas has claimed they were all killed in Israeli airstrikes near the start of the war.
The bodies will be handed to the Red Cross and will later undergo tests to verify their identity.
We’re seeing Red Cross vehicles arriving in Khan Younis as Hamas prepares to hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages.
It has said it will be releasing the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children – four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir.
The body of 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz will also be released.
Welcome to our live coverage.
Hamas is due to hand over the bodies of four Israeli hostages today – including a mother and her two children from the Bibas family.
Yarden Bibas was freed on 1 February, with the bodies of his wife Shiri and two children – four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir – due to be released.
The group also plans to release the body of peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the 7 October attacks.
Hamas has also said six living hostages, the final due to be released under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, will be released on Saturday.
We’ll be bringing you updates throughout the day on this live page.
Thanks for following our updates throughout the day. We’re pausing our coverage for now.
Former US president Joe Biden has said he and his wife, Jill, are “relieved” American-Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel Chen has been reunited with his family. 
In the statement on X, Biden continued to say he is “proud” that the “deal we negotiated has held, paving the way for the release of hostages”. 
Be the first to get Breaking News<\/span>
Install the Sky News app for free<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hamas has released the bodies of four Israeli hostages – including a mother and her two children. Six living hostages will be released under the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel at the weekend. Follow live updates.Thursday 20 February 2025 08:06, UKPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video playerAs Hamas hands over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}