Red Cross Receives Bodies of 4 Israeli Prisoners Under Gaza Ceasefire Agreement
Handover Follows Months of Israeli Military Operations in Khan Younis; Resistance Warns of Consequences if War Resumes.
Watan-The Red Cross received the bodies of four Israeli prisoners in Gaza today, Thursday, as part of the terms of the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and Israel.
Five Red Cross vehicles entered the handover site at the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Bani Suheila, Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. After signing a document with a representative of the resistance, the Red Cross received four coffins, each carrying the picture, name, and date of death of the Israeli prisoner, along with the phrase “Killed by the occupation army.”
Al Jazeera correspondent Rami Abu Taima reported that the area had been heavily targeted by Israeli forces during their assault on Gaza. The Israeli military carried out an extensive four-month-long operation there, including widespread excavations in search of any trace of the prisoners, but to no avail.
A banner was raised at the site with the phrase, “The return of war = the return of prisoners in coffins,” signaling the fate awaiting Israeli prisoners in Gaza if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to resume the war.
Red Cross Facilitates Handover of Israeli Prisoners’ Bodies in Gaza
A group of Gaza prisoners sentenced to life terms, who had been released in previous prisoner exchange rounds under the ceasefire agreement, attended the handover.
Abu Ubaida, the military spokesperson for Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, stated yesterday that Al-Qassam, alongside Saraya Al-Quds, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, would hand over the bodies of the Bibas family and the body of prisoner Oded Lifshitz.
He clarified that all the prisoners were alive before their detention sites were deliberately bombed by Israeli warplanes.
Yarden Bibas was captured during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7, 2023, and was taken to Gaza along with his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Kfir and Ariel.
Al-Qassam Brigades released Yarden Bibas earlier this month as part of the fourth batch of prisoner exchanges in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent, citing a source in the Mujahideen Brigades, reported that Shiri Bibas had worked in the office of the Southern Command’s leader in the Gaza Division and was a trainee in Unit 1200. After her capture, she and her two children were secured in a fortified house with their essential needs provided. However, Israeli forces targeted the house with an F-16 missile, completely destroying it.
Israel Receives Bodies of Prisoners from Red Cross
Oded Lifshitz was 85 years old at the time of his capture, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
The Israeli army confirmed receiving the prisoners’ bodies from the Red Cross. Israeli Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu had initially wanted to attend the reception ceremony but later withdrew.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X, “We regret that we did not fulfill our duty and did not reach the hostages on that painful day, nor bring them home safely.”
Netanyahu stated that Israel would endure a “difficult and sad day” as the bodies returned, adding, “My heart is breaking, and the heart of the entire world should break… We feel grief and pain, but we are determined to ensure that such an event never happens again.”
Al Jazeera’s Elias Karam reported that the bodies would be transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir, south of Tel Aviv, where identification could take hours or more than a day, depending on their condition. He noted that forensic doctors would conduct several examinations, including DNA testing, CT scans, and dental X-rays.
Ceasefire Agreement Stalled as Prisoner Exchange Continues
The examination will determine the cause of death, but the results may not be announced immediately.
Mediated by Egypt and Qatar with U.S. support, the ceasefire agreement took effect on January 19. It consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days, but Israel has so far stalled negotiations for the second phase.
In the first phase, the agreement stipulates the gradual release of 33 Israeli hostages from Gaza—whether alive or deceased—in exchange for around 1,700 to 2,000 Palestinian and Arab detainees.
With American backing, Israeli occupation forces carried out a genocide in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and January 19, 2025, resulting in over 159,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded—most of them children and women—more than 14,000 missing persons, and one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
