CAIRO, February 20. /TASS/. The Palestinian movement Hamas has handed the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including two of the youngest, to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to a broadcast by Egypt’s Al-Qahira Al-Ihbariya TV channel.
The broadcast showed ICRC vehicles transporting the bodies from the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Palestinian enclave, heading toward a location where Israeli forces are stationed.
The Red Cross on Wednesday called for privacy and dignity during the handover of the hostages' bodies. However, supporters of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group set up a stage in Khan Younis where the bodies had remained until the handover.
The radicals claim that they have handed over the bodies of the Bibas family’s members (the youngest of them, Kfir, was nine months old when all of them were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, while his brother Ariel was four), and Oded Lifshitz.
Once the bodies are brought to Israel, forensic experts will examine them to identify the deceased hostages and determine the causes of their deaths.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said that the ICRC delivered the coffins containing the remains of the four hostages to the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip.