‘Day of grief’, says Netanyahu as Hamas prepares to return baby Kfir Bibas’s body

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 19) said that Thursday (Feb 20) will be “a heartbreaking day, a day of grief,” as an Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages confirmed Hamas’s youngest hostage, infant Kfir Bibas and his brother Ariel were among the four bodies set for a return.

“Heart-shattering news”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement said that they have “received the heart-shattering news that Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are no longer with us.”

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Kfir and Ariel were abducted alongside their mother Shiri Bibas from Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of a string of communities near Gaza that Hamas-led attackers overran on Oct 7. Their father Yarden was abducted separately.

At the time of the abduction, Kfir was nine months old, while his brother Ariel was just four years old.

On Tuesday, Hamas confirmed that the return of the bodies of Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas, along with another hostage Oded Lifshitz, would take place in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

PM Netanyahu’s office in a statement said that it had received the names of the hostages whose bodies are to be handed over and that they have “updated the families”.

In a separate statement, Netanyahu said: "Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for the State of Israel -- a heartbreaking day, a day of grief. We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages -- fallen heroes."

The young Bibas family, as per AFP, became symbols of the hostage crisis that has gripped Israel since the Gaza war broke out.

(With inputs from agencies)