Gaza [Palestine], February 21: Hamas have returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages. The militant group said the bodies include those of Shiri Bibas and her young children, Kfir and Ariel.
Crowds of people, including a sizeable contingent of masked and armed fighters from Hamas and other factions, gathered at the handover site outside the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Large banners were erected, including one showing an image of coffins draped in Israeli flags.
The bodies of the hostages were handed over to the Red Cross which took them to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The remains are then to be transported to a forensic institute to be formally identified.
Public broadcaster Kan reported that the national forensic medicine institute in Tel Aviv has mobilized 10 doctors to speed up the identification process.A large convoy of white vans carrying the remains of the dead hostages has been escorted by official vehicles along the route through Israel into Tel Aviv.
A live broadcast captured vehicles moving along the roads, with countless Israelis standing in silence, holding flags and lining the route as the convoy passed.
There is a somber mood among the crowds who have gathered in Tel Aviv and among those lining the route.
Israel's military said the bodies will "undergo an identification procedure" at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, where the convoy has just arrived.
The IDF posted pictures of Israeli soldiers saluting the coffins, covered in Israeli flags, carrying the remains of the four hostages.
Israel confirms receiving remains of hostages, identification process underway
Israel says it has received the remains of hostages handed over by Hamas as part of the Gaza ceasefire.
"Israel has - through the Red Cross received the coffins of four deceased hostages," the office of the prime minister said in a statement.
"The coffins were transferred to an IDF force and the ISA, inside the Gaza Strip, from where they will be transferred to Israel, to the Health Ministry's National Center of Forensic Medicine," the statement said.
Families of the hostages would be officially notified following the completed identification process.
"The families of the hostages have been updated; our hearts are with them at this difficult hour," the prime minister's office said.
Source: Times of Oman
