‘Speechless doesn’t begin to describe how this makes us feel,’ Israel’s press office says
In their most shocking propaganda display to date, Hamas terrorists paraded the coffins of two dead children, their mother, and an 83-year-old man through the streets of Gaza before throngs of cheering Palestinians.
The macabre scene unfolded on Thursday morning as Hamas returned the bodies of four Israeli captives who were held for more than 500 days: Shiri Bibas, 32; her two children, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir; and 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz. The caskets bore smiling pictures of those killed alongside messages listing their “date of arrest” as Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas displayed the caskets on a makeshift stage in front of an anti-Semitic sign depicting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a bloodthirsty vampire snarling above a photo of the murdered captives. The sign included the caption, “The War Criminal Netanyahu & His Nazi Army Killed Them with Missiles from Zionist Warplanes.” There is no evidence to date that supports the claim.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) dispatched one of its staffers to sit with a uniformed Hamas terrorist at a camouflage table and sign “paperwork.” The committee then transported the bodies through the Gaza Strip as cheering crowds of onlookers celebrated, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “victory” in Arabic. Other videos show masked Hamas gunmen casually chatting with excited Gazans out on the streets.
HAMAS staged a parade showcasing the coffins of the Bibas family, and many Gazans turned out to cheer the jihadists’ “victory” in murdering Jewish women and babies. pic.twitter.com/UWq2EmIaDe
— Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) February 20, 2025
When the coffins reached Israeli soil, they were scanned for bombs and booby traps and then opened for examination to confirm the identities of those inside. Hamas locked the caskets shut but did not provide keys to Israel, forcing authorities to smash the locks open.
The ICRC’s role in the barbaric display is likely to bring increased scrutiny toward the organization, which failed to fulfill its mandate to visit the hostages and assess their health, as the group routinely does during traditional conflicts. It has since participated in Hamas’s propagandistic hostage release displays, sending officials to appear on stage with Hamas terrorists, shake hands, and sign papers in similar scenes to the one that played out on Thursday.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill have responded to those displays by threatening to cut funding for the ICRC and strip protections that protect the organization from terror-related lawsuits, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The disturbing Thursday display drew immediate outrage in Israel and made clear that Hamas has no interest in tamping down a series of hostage release proceedings that have sparked celebratory riots across the war torn Gaza Strip, even when those proceedings include the bodies of murdered children.
“As the bodies of four Israeli hostages are transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross, hundreds of ‘innocent Gazans’ dance to music, and happily film this tragic event,” Israel’s government press office said in a statement posted to social media. “Speechless doesn’t begin to describe how this makes us feel.”
“Agony. Pain. There are no words,” wrote Israeli president Isaac Herzog. “Our hearts—the hearts of an entire nation—lie in tatters.”
Shiri Bibas’s husband, Yarden, was released earlier this month by Hamas under similar circumstances. He was held hostage in a different part of Gaza, separated from his wife and young children. Hamas abducted the family from their home in kibbutz Nir Oz while carrying out the Oct. 7 terror attack.
This article was originally published at freebeacon.com
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