Tel Aviv [Israel], February 21: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge on Hamas on Thursday after the group released what it said were the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including the infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the youngest of those abducted during the October 7, 2023 attack.
Palestinian militants handed over four black coffins in a carefully orchestrated public display, with dozens of armed Hamas militants and crowds of Palestinians gathering to watch.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk criticised the handoff, saying that the parading of bodies was abhorrent and cruel and that it flew in the face of international law.
Israelis lined the road in the rain near the Gaza border to pay their respects as the convoy carrying the coffins drove by.
In Tel Aviv, people gathered, some weeping, in a public square, opposite Israel's defence headquarters, at what has come to be known as Hostages Square.
Netanyahu vowed to eliminate Hamas in a recorded address released after the remains of the hostages were handed over, saying "the four coffins" obliged Israel to ensure "more than ever" that there was no repeat of the October 7 attack.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
