9 h. ago Hamas hands over first of six Israeli hostages during tense prisoner exchange

Hamas has today handed over two of six Israeli hostages due to be freed from the Gaza Strip, as the body of murdered mother-of-two Shiri Bibas was handed back to her grieving family

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9 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas handed over as Hamas begins release of six more hostages

Hamas says six captives to be freed from Gaza in swap for about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detaineesA masked militant has sat down at a table on the stage with a Red Cross representative and they appear to be signing documents.Live images from Rafah are showing masked Hamas fighters taking to the makeshift stage, with one speaking into a microphone. Continue reading...

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10 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel says body of Shiri Bibas handed over as Hamas prepares to release six more hostages

Hamas says six captives expected to be freed from Gaza on Saturday in swap for about 600 Palestinian prisoners and detaineesA convoy of Red Cross vehicles is now heading to a hostage handover site set up by Hamas in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Times of Israel is quoting an Israeli defense official as saying.The Red Cross is expected to receive two hostages there, the report says. According to Al Jazeera, hostages Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu will be freed in Rafah. The other four — Omer Shem-Tov, Eliya Cohen, Omer Wenkert and Hisham al-Sayed — will be released later in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.On the stage prepared by Hamas in Rafah are the usual placards with messages including “We are the flood” as well as military weapons and equipment the group claims were stolen from the IDF on October 7 2023.One piece is a gun on which the group wrote “Ravshatz,” the Hebrew acronym for the head of a community’s local security team, indicating it was taken from such an individual killed by terr...

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10 h. ago Family confirms body of hostage handed over by Hamas was Israeli mother Shiri Bibas

Hamas returns remains of Israeli hostage after mixup that threatened the ceasefire

Politics

11 h. ago Shiri Bibas remains identified as Israel and Hamas prepare for another hostage

Gaza ceasefire deal still on track amid uproar over fate of two Israeli boys and initial false return of their mother’s bodyThe body of the Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has been identified, Israel’s army radio reported early on Saturday, adding that Bibas was likely killed in captivity with her children.The confirmation came as Israelis and Palestinians braced for another tense exchange of hostages, prisoners and detainees on Saturday after uproar in Israel over allegations that two child hostages were “brutally murdered” by Hamas, and the group’s initial failure to deliver the body of their mother, instead returning the corpse of an unidentified woman. Continue reading...

Politics

22 h. ago Israel vows Hamas will ‘pay the price’ after 24 hours of chaos rocks fragile ceasefire deal

Hamas denies deliberately handing over wrong body and blames Israeli bombings for deaths of hostages

Economics

26 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel claims Hamas killed Bibas children with their ‘bare hands’

Statement from IDF spokesman contradicts Hamas claim the family was killed in an airstrikeOne of the four bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is not that of Shiri Bibas, Israel’s military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of a ceasefire deal that was already precarious.The Israeli military confirmed that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’ children, Ariel and Kfir, in the early hours of Friday. However, it added “During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body” Continue reading...

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27 h. ago 'Hamas didn't shoot Ariel and Kfir Bibas, they killed them with their bare hands': Israel claims forensic tests show infant hostages were murdered

Israel has blamed Hamas for murdering siblings Ariel an Kfir Bibas 'with their bare hands' after the terrorist group handed over their bodies.

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28 h. ago Hamas 'will pay the full price' for not returning the body of Shiri Bibas, Netanyahu warns after terror group blamed 'mix up' for sending the wrong remains

The remains of four people, whom Hamas said were Israeli hostages, were handed over on Thursday, the first such transfer under the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

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30 h. ago Hamas offers horrific explanation after Israel revealed body returned to grieving family was NOT missing hostage Shiri Babas

The remains of four people, whom Hamas said were Israeli hostages, were handed over on Thursday, the first such transfer under the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Events

33 h. ago Israel claims Hamas handed over unidentified body instead of missing mother Shiri Bibas

The Israeli military said Hamas’s actions amounted to a ‘violation of utmost severity’

Politics

34 h. ago Middle East latest: Netanyahu says body Hamas released was that of a Gazan woman, not a hostage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a body that Hamas militants released during the handover of remains of Israeli hostages is that of a Gazan woman instead of that of Shiri Bibas, the mother of two young boys whose bodies were returned on Thursday

Events

34 h. ago Israel claims Hamas handed over unidentified body instead of missing mother Shiri Babas

The Israeli military said Hamas’s actions amounted to a ‘violation of utmost severity’

Politics

41 h. ago Israel claims Hamas handed over unidentified body instead of hostage’s remains

The Israeli military said two of the bodies had been identified, but a third remains unknown

Politics

50 h. ago Hamas hands over bodies of four Israeli hostages including 10

Hamas has returned the bodies of four hostages, including the two youngest captives seized in its 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

Events

51 h. ago ‘One of the hardest days’ in Israel as Hamas hands over hostages’ bodies

Remains of two young children, their mother and an elderly man arrived in Tel Aviv after a ceremony in GazaThe remains of two young children, their mother, and an elderly man taken hostage by Hamas have been returned to Israel in what onlookers described as one of the “hardest days” for Israelis since the Palestinian militant group attack that ignited the war in Gaza.A convoy carrying the bodies of Shiri Bibas, 32, her sons Ariel and Kfir, four years and nine months old respectively, and 85-year-old Oded Lifshitz, all from the Nir Oz kibbutz, arrived at a forensics centre in Tel Aviv on Thursday for DNA checks and autopsy procedures. Continue reading...

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56 h. ago Israel's saddest day: President says 'our hearts lie in tatters' as coffins containing remains of four hostages including Shiri Bibas, her son Ariel and baby Kfir are returned from Gaza

At just nine months old, Kfir Bibas was the youngest captive taken on October 7, 2023. He was taken alongside his mother Shiri, and then-four-year-old brother Ariel.

Politics

56 h. ago Hamas hands over remains of four Israeli hostages including two children

Exchange under shaky ceasefire deal includes three deceased members of Bibas family

Politics

57 h. ago Israel braces for its saddest day: Hamas terrorists stand over four coffins as they hand over the bodies of October 7 hostages Shiri Bibas and her young children Ariel and Kfir

At just nine months old, Kfir Bibas was the youngest captive taken on October 7, 2023. He was taken alongside his mother Shiri, and then-four-year-old brother Ariel.

Events

57 h. ago Middle East crisis live: Hamas hands bodies of four Israeli hostages, including two children, to Red Cross in Gaza

Bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, who Hamas says were killed in an Israeli airstrike, as well as Oded Lifshitz, 83, handed overThe handover of the four bodies from Hamas to the Red Cross is now complete.The vehicles are on their way to Israel, and the crowd in Khan Younis is beginning to disperse. Continue reading...

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