Courtesy of JTA. Photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
Pictures of Shiri Bibas and her children Kfir and Ariel who are held hostage in Hamas captivity hang outside the protest tent calling for the release of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, February 19, 2025
(JTA) — Remains released by Hamas on Friday have been identified as belonging to Shiri Bibas, Israeli officials announced early Saturday.
The identification came two days after Hamas released the bodies of Bibas’ young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who were killed after being abducted to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas released a third body wirth the boys’ on Thursday that it said was Shiri Bibas, but which Israeli forensics analysis found was another woman’s; the terror group said the switch was made in error.
The identification also came as Israel prepared to receive six living hostages on Saturday, the last to be freed during the current ceasefire deal. All six men — four abducted on Oct. 7 and two taken hostage after entering Gaza on their own years earlier — were released later in the day.
All but one were freed after being paraded in ceremonies similar to those Hamas staged during earlier hostage releases, with banners displaying the terror group’s messaging and imagery. Hamas also released a video showing two additional hostages who were not freed Saturday — Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal — watching the ceremony and begging to be released.
In exchange for the six hostages, Israel was due to release 620 Palestinian security prisoners. The group includes more than 450 arrested following Oct. 7, as well as a number who were convicted earlier of lethal terror attacks. But in the early hours of Sunday morning local time, Israel announced that it was delaying the release of the prisoners, demanding confirmation of the next hostage release and an end to Hamas’ ceremonies.
“In light of Hamas’s repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies,” the statement said.
The six hostages freed Saturday are:
Hisham Al-Sayed: One of four hostages not taken on Oct. 7, al-Sayed, 36, a Bedouin Arab with developmental disabilities, wandered into Gaza by foot in 2015. Last seen with an oxygen face mask in a propaganda video released in 2022, he was released to the Red Cross without ceremony in Gaza City.
Eliyah Cohen: Cohen, 27, was one of four Nova festival-goers to emerge alive from a shelter where 16 others died. He was reportedly wounded on Oct. 7. His mother said earlier this month that previously released hostages said Cohen had been chained and beaten.
Avera Mengistu: One of four hostages not taken on Oct. 7, Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, entered Gaza by foot in 2014.
Omer Shem Tov: Taken hostage from the Nova music festival, Shem Tov, 22, was seen alive by hostages who were released in November 2023.
Tal Shoham: Taken hostage from Kibbutz Beeri along with six members of his family, Shoham, 39, remained in captivity after his wife, children, and other relatives were released in November 2023. Several other family members were murdered on Oct. 7.
Omer Wenkert: Abducted from the Nova music festival, Wenkert, 23, was seen alive in videos filmed by Hamas that day.
Hamas is due to release the remains of four other hostages in the coming week under the terms of the six-week ceasefire that it struck with Israel in January. The future of the ceasefire remains uncertain.
