Hamas has announced that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, February 20, 2025, including the two youngest people held by the group, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.
Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the group’s negotiating team, said in a statement that the group will also release six living hostages on Saturday, February 22, 2025, instead of the three that had been expected.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that an agreement had been reached during negotiations in Cairo for “four slain hostages” to be handed over on Thursday and “six living hostages” to be released on Saturday.
It added that “four additional slain hostages are expected to be handed over to Israel next week.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Hostage Families Forum said that the families of all the hostages set for release, dead and alive, have been notified.
Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israelis, as in past weeks.
Hamas’ announcement is clearest indication that the Bibas children – who were just nine months and four years old, respectively, when they were kidnapped in October 2023 – are indeed dead.
Israel has not yet confirmed their deaths and has not yet commented on Hamas’ announcement.
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that Kfir and Ariel Bibas were killed along with their mother in an Israeli airstrike, and released a video of their father Yarden, who was also held hostage, in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their deaths.
An Israeli military spokesperson at the time called the video “psychological terror,” but the military has told relatives that they may not be alive, according to a spokesperson for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Hamas released Yarden Bibas, alive, on February 1, 2025.
The Bibas family, and Kfir in particular, have become one of the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks.
Kfir’s picture has been featured on many of the posters calling for the release of the hostages that have been on display across Israel and the world for the past 15 months. In it, the red-haired baby boy is holding a pink elephant toy, looking directly into the camera with a toothless smile.
Names Of Hostages To Be Freed On Saturday Disclosed
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum published the names of six Israelis held in Gaza due to be released on Saturday under a fragile Israel-Hamas truce deal.
It said in a statement after Israel and Hamas confirmed six captives would be freed, the campaign group welcomed “with profound joy the return of Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham al-Sayed, and Avera Mengistu this Saturday.”
The statement added, “While we feel profound relief at their homecoming, we are devastated by the news that the remains of four of our loved ones will be returned this Thursday.”
Eliya Cohen, 27, a resident of Tzur Hadassah, was taken while attending the Nova music festival.
Tal Shoham, 40, was kidnapped with his wife, two children, mother-in-law, aunt and her daughter. All the women and children from the family were released.
Omer Shem Tov, 22, was seized from the Nova festival along with siblings Itay and Maya Regev, who were freed.
Omer Wenkert, 23, was taken during the music festival.
Hisham al-Sayed, 36, is an Israeli Bedouin from Hura, southern Israel. In 2015, he crossed the border into Gaza.
Avera Mengistu, 39, in 2014, he crossed into Gaza through Zikim. For nine years his family had no news of his condition until January 2023 when Hamas released a video of him.
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