Funeral of hostages Shiri Bibas and sons due to be held on Wednesday

The Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two sons, who were murdered while being held by the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, are to be buried in Israel on Wednesday.

A private ceremony is planned near their hometown of Nir Oz, Israeli media reported on Monday. Beforehand, the public will be able to take part in a funeral procession. Shiri Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel also had German citizenship.

The mother’s body was handed over by Hamas on Friday, one day after the remains of her children. The coffin that Hamas initially handed over to the Red Cross contained the body of another, unknown woman.

The mix-up – whether deliberate or accidental – caused great outrage in Israel.

Following a forensic examination of the bodies, the army announced that the two children had been brutally murdered by the kidnappers in November 2023.

According to Hamas, however, they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. At the time of their abduction, Ariel was four years old and Kfir 9 months old.

After a long period of uncertainty about their fate, the children’s bodies were handed over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday.

The display of the bodies by Hamas was sharply criticized internationally, including by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.

Video footage of the terrified mother and her two sons being taken during the massive Hamas terrorist attacks on the Israeli border area on October 7, 2023 was seen around the world. Hamas and other extremist groups murdered around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 240 others to the Gaza Strip during the attacks.

In Israel, the family became symbols of the unprecedented attack which triggered the Gaza war, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

The Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two sons, who were murdered while being held by the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, are to be buried in Israel on Wednesday.

A private ceremony is planned near their hometown of Nir Oz, Israeli media reported on Monday. Beforehand, the public will be able to take part in a funeral procession. Shiri Bibas and her sons Kfir and Ariel also had German citizenship.

The mother’s body was handed over by Hamas on Friday, one day after the remains of her children. The coffin that Hamas initially handed over to the Red Cross contained the body of another, unknown woman.

The mix-up – whether deliberate or accidental – caused great outrage in Israel.

Following a forensic examination of the bodies, the army announced that the two children had been brutally murdered by the kidnappers in November 2023.

According to Hamas, however, they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. At the time of their abduction, Ariel was four years old and Kfir 9 months old.

After a long period of uncertainty about their fate, the children’s bodies were handed over to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday.

The display of the bodies by Hamas was sharply criticized internationally, including by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.

Video footage of the terrified mother and her two sons being taken during the massive Hamas terrorist attacks on the Israeli border area on October 7, 2023 was seen around the world. Hamas and other extremist groups murdered around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 240 others to the Gaza Strip during the attacks.

In Israel, the family became symbols of the unprecedented attack which triggered the Gaza war, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.