Sawt Falasteen - Hamas says hands over bodies of Israel's Bibas family, elderly hostage

This is the first release of dead hostages under a fragile ceasefire under which living hostages have been exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

The ceremony to return the bodies of Shiri Bibas, her two young boys —- Kfir and Ariel -— and a fourth captive, Oded Lifshitz, 83 at the time of his capture, took place at a former cemetery in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

Israel has "received the caskets of four fallen hostages", Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, before the military confirmed a convoy with the bodies had entered Israel.

Flag-waving Israelis stood beside the road as a brisk wind blew near Kissufim, southern Israel, waiting for the vehicles to pass following the handover via the Red Cross.

Crowds also gathered in Tel Aviv, AFPTV images showed.

Israel's military said the bodies would "undergo an identification procedure" at the national forensic medicine institute.

Ahead of the handover, Hamas displayed four black coffins on a stage erected on the sandy patch of ground. A banner behind them depicted Netanyahu as a blood-stained vampire. An armed militant stood nearby.

Each casket bore a small photo of each of the deceased. White mock-up missiles placed near the coffins carried the message: "They were killed by USA bombs," a reference to Israel's top military supplier.

A militant, his face wrapped in a red and white keffiyeh scarf, sat on the stage to complete documents with a Red Cross official before the coffins were loaded into Red Cross vehicles.

Tahani Fayad, 40, was among the hundreds of people gathered to witness the ceremony which he called "a confirmation of the victory of the Palestinian people and proof that the occupation will not defeat us".

Armed men in military fatigues and wearing Hamas headbands were ubiquitous, standing near the stage for the carefully choreographed ceremony -- as in previous hostage transfers.

During their October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war, Hamas filmed and later broadcast footage showing the Bibas family's abduction from their home near the Gaza border.

Ariel was then aged four and Kfir just nine months old.

Yarden Bibas, the boys' father and Shiri's husband, was abducted separately and released in a previous hostage-prisoner swap on February 1.

- Hearts 'in tatters' -

The bodies' repatriation is part of the six-week initial phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza.

"Our hearts -- the hearts of the entire nation -- lie in tatters," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement after the handover.

Under the first phase, militants have so far freed 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

Of the remaining 14 Gaza hostages eligible for release under phase one, Israel says eight are dead.

While the Bibas's deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed them early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim and many remained unconvinced -- including the Bibas family itself.

Late on Wednesday, Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it had received "heart-shattering" news of the deaths of the three Bibas family members.

The Bibas family said it would wait for a confirmation.

- Under strain -

Israel and Hamas announced a deal earlier this week for the return of eight hostages' remains in two groups this week and next, as well as the release of the last six living Israeli captives on Saturday.

The ceasefire in Gaza has held despite accusations of violations on both sides.

It has also been under strain from US President Donald Trump's widely condemned plan to take control of rubble-strewn Gaza and relocate its population of more than two million Palestinians.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said talks will begin this week on the truce's second phase, laying out a more permanent end to the war.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP on Wednesday that Hamas was ready to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during phase two.

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during their attack. Prior to Thursday's handover, there were 70 hostages in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST