Israel threatens Hamas after handover of ‘wrong body’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Friday of committing a "cruel and evil" violation of the Gaza ceasefire deal by failing to return the body of hostage Shiri Bibas.

"We will act with determination to bring Shiri home, along with all of our captives – both the living and the fallen – and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

Hamas on Thursday handed over bodies it said were of four hostages, including three members of the Bibas family — Shiri Bibas and her two young sons — along with an elderly captive.

While the identities of the Bibas boys and the elderly hostage were confirmed by Israeli forensic experts, the fourth body was not that of Shiri Bibas, according to Israeli officials.

Netanyahu said it was, in fact, that of a Gazan woman.

"The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds," he said.

"Not only did they abduct the father, Yarden Bibas, the young mother, Shiri, and their two small infants in an unimaginably cynical manner, but they also failed to return Shiri to her small children, the little angels, and instead placed the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin," he said.

The two boys — Kfir and Ariel — had become symbols of the hostage crisis along with their mother.

During their attack on October 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza war, Hamas filmed and later broadcast footage showing the Bibas family's abduction from their home near the Gaza border.

Ariel was then aged four, while Kfir was the youngest hostage at just nine months old.

Their father, who was also seized during the attack, was released earlier this month.

The elderly hostage whose remains were returned on Thursday was identified as Oded Lifshitz, a veteran journalist and long-time defender of Palestinian rights.

Palestinian militants staged a ceremony to return the four bodies at a former cemetery in the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis.

The repatriation of the bodies was part of the six-week initial phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on January 19 and has so far led to the release of 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu orders 'intensive' West Bank operations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered an "intensive operation against centers of terrorism" in the occupied West Bank, his office said, after three buses exploded in central Israel without causing any reported injuries.

Three devices detonated on buses in the city of Bat Yam on Thursday evening and two others were being defused, according to police, with Israel's defence minister accusing "Palestinian terrorist" groups of being behind the blasts.

Netanyahu's office said on social media early Friday that he had completed a security assessment with top officials, ordering fresh counterterrorism operations as well as stepped up security in Israeli cities.

"The Prime Minister has ordered the IDF (military) to carry out an intensive operation against centers of terrorism in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu's office said on X, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

"The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the ISA (internal security agency) to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities," he added.

A large number of police were deployed to search for suspects after the "suspected terror attack", the police force said in a statement.

"Police bomb disposal units are scanning for additional suspicious objects. We urge the public to avoid the areas and remain alert for any suspicious items," it added.

Tzvika Brot, the mayor of Bat Yam, said in a video statement that there were "no injured in these incidents".

Security forces and bomb disposal units were seen by an AFP journalist as they inspected the remains of destroyed buses.

Israeli media said that bus drivers countrywide had been asked to stop and inspect their vehicles for additional explosive devices.

- 'Intensify' West Bank raids -
A police commander from central Israel, Haim Sargarof, said in a televised briefing that the devices used to set off the blasts were similar to those found in the West Bank.

Separately, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he ordered the military to "intensify operations to thwart terrorism" in West Bank refugee camps, particularly Tulkarem.

The military has been carrying out near-daily raids in West Bank cities and camps for several weeks now targeting Palestinian militants.

Multiple Palestinian civilians have also been killed in the raids, while Israeli security forces have destroyed homes and infrastructure.

The military operation has displaced more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has escalated since the October 2023 outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.

At least 897 Palestinians including militants have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to an AFP tally based on figures provided by the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.

At least 32 Israelis, including some soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or confrontations during Israeli operations in the West Bank over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.