Middle East crisis live: Israel claims Hamas killed Bibas children with their ‘bare hands’
Israel claims Hamas murdered babies Ariel and Kfir Bibas with their ‘bare hands’
The IDF says Hamas terrorists murdered children Ariel and Kfir Bibas “with their bare hands” weeks after their kidnapping on 7 October 2023.
“We can confirm that baby Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, and his older brother Ariel, aged four, were both brutally murdered by terrorists while being held hostage in Gaza no later than November 2023. These two innocent children were taken hostage alive, along with their mother, Shiri, from their home on 7 October 2023,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
Hamas insist that the Bibas boys and their mother, Shiri, were killed by an Israeli airstrike. However, Hadari says those claims are lies, that Ariel and Kfir Bibas were “murdered in cold blood”.
Hagari adds:
The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys – they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities. This assessment is based on forensic findings and intelligence that supports these conclusions. We have shared this intelligence and the forensic findings with our partners around the world so they can verify it.
The entire world must know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates. Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza. Shiri Bibas, who was meant to be returned with her children to Israel as part of the agreement, was not returned by Hamas. Hamas lied and violated the agreement.
The body that Hamas falsely claimed was Shiri’s was not hers, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, Hamas sent over the body of an unidentified woman. This is yet more evidence of Hamas’s barbaric cruelty.”
Hagari says Israel demands that Shiri Bibas be returned to Israel swiftly.
It is worth noting that Israel’s claims have yet to be verified by independent sources.
Key events
Reuters has some further details about the meeting that took place between Arab and Gulf states in Saudi Arabia.
It was attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah and Crown Prince Hussein; Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani; UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his national security adviser; Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.
Riyadh made no official mention of the talks, but sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters that they tackled a mainly Egyptian proposal that could include up to $20bn in funding over three years from wealthy Gulf and Arab states.
Last week, the Guardian reported that a proposal being drawn up by Cairo would formally exclude Hamas from governance of Gaza and control of its reconstruction
Major US allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which is one of few Arab states to have normalised ties with Israel, have ruled out Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza.
They have emphasised that any peace deal should envisage a Palestinian state co-existing with Israel.
Irish premier Micheal Martin has accused Sinn Fein of “engaging in politics” over its decision not to travel to Washington DC in protest of Donald Trump’s position on Gaza, PA reports.
Martin, who intends and expects to Trump at the White House for an event around St Patrick’s Day, said he had a “responsibility to the country” to attend.
He said there was a need to continue engagement with the US administration to protect jobs in Ireland as well as trade between the two countries:
“It is very important because, first of all, the economic relationship between Europe and US and between Ireland and the US is an extremely important one, very robust one.”
The Taoiseach said it was also important to keep engagement with the US to offer Ireland’s perspective on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
We need a consolidation of the ceasefire, we need a massive surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and we need to create a political pathway to a two-state solution.
Earlier, Sinn Fein’s leaders announced they were boycotting the visit in “a principled stance against the threat of mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza”.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has left Saudi Arabia after joining an informal meeting on the Israel-Palestinian conflict with Gulf Arab states and Jordan, the presidency says in a statement.
The participating countries were expected to discuss alternatives to Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt.
Earlier this month, Trump suggested Israel would turn Gaza over to the US for redevelopment into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Last week, the Guardian reported that Egypt was drawing up a plan under which Hamas would be formally excluded from governance of Gaza and control of its reconstruction.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says it is “shaken” by the army’s revelation that Palestinian terrorists murdered the two Bibas boys with their “bare hands”.
“We are shaken to the core by the horrifying findings confirming the cruel and brutal murder of Ariel and Kfir Bibas – just innocent infants – at the hands of Hamas,” the group says in a statement, describing their deaths as “barbaric”.
Mohamad Bazzi
As global attention remains focused on the hostage-prisoner swaps between Hamas and Israel, another ceasefire in the region hangs in the balance.
The 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militia which has been the most dominant political faction in Lebanon for the past two decades, was paused by a US-brokered ceasefire in late November. The agreement also paved the way to end years of political deadlock in Beirut. Lebanon has formed a new government, and finally has leaders chosen for their promises to carry out reforms, rather than their sectarian affiliations – but the future of the ceasefire deal has left them facing an immediate crisis.
The original 60-day ceasefire was intended to give the two sides time to negotiate a longer truce. Under the deal, Israeli was supposed to fully withdraw its troops from parts of southern Lebanon it had invaded in October, while Hezbollah agreed to move its fighters and weapons north of the Litani river, about 16 miles (25 km) from the Israel-Lebanon border. The Israeli and Hezbollah withdrawals would allow the Lebanese army to move into southern Lebanon…
William Christou
An Australian member of Islamic State who was wounded in the extremist group’s final battle and whose fate was not publicly known has been discovered alive and in custody in a prison in north-eastern Syria.
Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, 41, who is one of a cohort of accused IS members whose Australian citizenship was stripped and then restored in 2022 after a legal challenge, has been reported as missing for the past six years since the military defeat of IS.
He was encountered by the Guardian – with his head shaved and wearing a brown jumpsuit – by chance during a rare tour of Panorama prison, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Good afternoon, here’s a summary of today’s stories from Israel, Gaza and around the Middle East…
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Israel claims Hamas murdered babies Ariel and Kfir Bibas with their “bare hands” The IDF says Hamas terrorists murdered children Ariel and Kfir Bibas “with their bare hands” weeks after their kidnapping on 7 October, 2023, reports The Times of Israel. “We can confirm that baby Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, and his older brother Ariel, aged four, were both brutally murdered by terrorists while being held hostage in Gaza no later than November 2023. These two innocent children were taken hostage alive, along with their mother, Shiri, from their home on October 7, 2023,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has accused Hamas of a “very serious violation” of the terms of the hostage handover, saying the body of Shiri Bibas was not among the bodies received on Thursday. It said in a statement: “During the identification process, it was found that the additional body received was not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other abductee.” The bodies of her children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were four years and nine months old respectively, had been identified, the IDF said.
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Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the Israeli military to carry out an intensive operation against what he called “centres of terrorism” in the West Bank. The Israeli prime minister also said on social media that he had ordered Shin Bet and police to increase “preventative” measures against attacks on Israeli cities.
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Netanyahu, has condemned Hamas after the Israeli military said one of the bodies released by the militant group did not belong to Shiri Bibas or any of the captives held in Gaza, accusing it of violating the ceasefire.The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds,” he said in video statement. Netanyahu added that his government will “ensure Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement”.
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Over half a million children left without education across Gaza and the West Bank.The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that vital aid for children in in the West Bank is being scuppered by increasing violence in the region.
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Leader of Sinn Fein will boycott St. Patrick’s day events in US over Gaza. Mary Lou McDonald, president of Sinn Fein and First Minister Michelle O’Neill, say they will not attend the celebrations after Trump’s call to exile Palestinians from Gaza.
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Israel’s Bibas family accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday of failing to protect their loved ones during Hamas’s 2023 attack and of failing to bring them home. “There is no forgiveness for abandoning them on October 7, and no forgiveness for abandoning them in captivity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we did not receive an apology from you in this painful moment,” Ofri Bibas said in a statement.
Israel claims Hamas murdered babies Ariel and Kfir Bibas with their ‘bare hands’
The IDF says Hamas terrorists murdered children Ariel and Kfir Bibas “with their bare hands” weeks after their kidnapping on 7 October 2023.
“We can confirm that baby Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, and his older brother Ariel, aged four, were both brutally murdered by terrorists while being held hostage in Gaza no later than November 2023. These two innocent children were taken hostage alive, along with their mother, Shiri, from their home on 7 October 2023,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
Hamas insist that the Bibas boys and their mother, Shiri, were killed by an Israeli airstrike. However, Hadari says those claims are lies, that Ariel and Kfir Bibas were “murdered in cold blood”.
Hagari adds:
The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys – they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities. This assessment is based on forensic findings and intelligence that supports these conclusions. We have shared this intelligence and the forensic findings with our partners around the world so they can verify it.
The entire world must know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates. Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza. Shiri Bibas, who was meant to be returned with her children to Israel as part of the agreement, was not returned by Hamas. Hamas lied and violated the agreement.
The body that Hamas falsely claimed was Shiri’s was not hers, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, Hamas sent over the body of an unidentified woman. This is yet more evidence of Hamas’s barbaric cruelty.”
Hagari says Israel demands that Shiri Bibas be returned to Israel swiftly.
It is worth noting that Israel’s claims have yet to be verified by independent sources.
Bibas family says Netanyahu abandoned their loved ones
Israel’s Bibas family accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday of failing to protect their loved ones during Hamas’s 2023 attack and of failing to bring them home.
“There is no forgiveness for abandoning them on October 7, and no forgiveness for abandoning them in captivity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we did not receive an apology from you in this painful moment,” Ofri Bibas said in a statement.
She said the family was still waiting to know the “fate” of her sister-in-law Shiri Bibas and was “not seeking revenge right now”.
Israel to release 602 prisoners in Gaza swap on Saturday, reports AFP.
Israel will free 602 prisoners and detainees from jails on Saturday as part of a hostage-prisoner swap with Hamas under an ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group.
Among those released, 445 are individuals from Gaza who were arrested after Hamas’ 7 October attack that sparked the latest conflict. Sixty are serving long sentences, 50 are serving life sentences, and 47 were re-arrested after a 2011 prisoner exchange, Amani Sarahneh, a spokesperson for the NGO, told AFP.
Hamas says it is investigating a possible error in identifying human remains, Reuters reports, after Israeli specialists accused it of violating the ceasefire by failing to return the body of Shiri Bibas.
Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, says “unfortunate mistakes” could have occurred, especially as Israeli bombing had mingled the bodies of Israeli hostages and Palestinians, thousands of whom were still buried in the rubble.
“We confirm that it is not in our values or our interest to keep any bodies or not to abide by the covenants and agreements that we sign,” the statement adds.
Argentina announced two days of national mourning on Thursday after the bodies of two Israeli Argentine children who had been taken hostage by Hamas were handed over by the group, reports AFP.
Argentina’s president Javier Milei will call for two days of national mourning, his office said in an official statement.
Milei also extended his “condolences to the family, especially to Yarden Bibas, the children’s father, who after suffering the torment of being kidnapped for 484 days is now facing his worst nightmare”, the statement added.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a body that Hamas militants released during the handover of remains of Israeli hostages is that of a woman from Gaza instead of that of Shiri Bibas, the mother of two young boys whose bodies were returned on Thursday.
AP reports that, in a statement released on Friday, Netanyahu criticised the handover of the wrong remains as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement, which has halted fighting in the Gaza Strip, and said Hamas would “pay the full price” for the action.
Hamas militants turned over four bodies on Thursday under the tenuous ceasefire, which has paused over 15 months of war. Israeli confirmed one body was that of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war on 7 October 2023.
The remains of Shiri Bibas’ two young sons, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, were positively identified, the Israel Defense Forces said, but added the fourth body was not that of their mother, nor of any other hostage.
“We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages – both living and dead – and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said.
“The sacred memory of Oded Lifshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. May God avenge their blood. And so we will avenge,” he added.
AFP reports that Hamas has rejected Netanyahu’s “threats” to make the group pay after he accused it of violating the ceasefire by not returning the hostage Shiri Bibas.
Hamas said in a statement:
We reject the threats issued by Benjamin Netanyahu as part of his attempts to improve his image.
The movement affirmed its “seriousness and full commitment” to its responsibilities under the ceasefire, and said it had “no interest in failing to comply or holding on to any bodies”.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the world to condemn what he described as the “horrific murders” of the two Bibas children, whose bodies Hamas handed over as part of a Gaza ceasefire deal.
“The entire civilised world should condemn these horrific murders,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Who kidnaps a little boy and a baby and murders them? Monsters. That’s who … I vow that I will not rest until the savages who executed our hostages are brought to justice”.
Hamas, however, says the children – along with their mother – were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.
