Hamas said it was returning the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two children, but Israeli authorities have not yet confirmed their deaths.
Hamas said it would release on Saturday six living Israeli hostages and, on Thursday, return the bodies of four others.
Only one of the dead hostages has been identified by Israeli authorities.
The terrorist group, though, said the three other deceased were Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, according to the Times of Israel.
The two red-haired tots, who, if still alive, would be 5 and 2 years old, respectively, had become poster children for the hostage crisis.
Israel has declined to formally identify the three as those whose bodies are being returned.
The Bibas family released a statement saying it was “in turmoil” following Hamas’s announcement but said they had not yet received formal government confirmation that the three were dead.
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“Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” they said.
Yarden Bibas, the husband of Shiri and father of the boys, was released earlier this month.
The Israeli government has said it has “grave concerns” for the fate of the three remaining Bibas family members.
The six living hostages scheduled for release on Saturday represent all those that Hamas has agreed to set free in the cease-fire’s first phase.
It prioritized women, children, elderly men, and sick or injured men.
Hamas accelerated the release schedule; it had been required to deliver three living hostages this week and three more next week as the first phase draws to a close.
In turn, it has secured 47 Hamas members who were among more than 1,000 freed in 2011 in return for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit but who were later rearrested by Israel.
They were originally scheduled to be released on the final day of the six-week first phase of the cease-fire, but Hamas feared the agreement might not hold that long, an Israeli official reportedly said.
The terrorists are due to release four more bodies next week. That would complete the first phase’s 33 hostage deal—25 living and eight dead.
The body scheduled to be returned this week that the Israeli government has identified is that of Shlomo Mantzur, 85.
He was initially presumed to have been kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, but the IDF informed his family that he had been murdered that day and his body taken to Gaza.
Families and supporters of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip hold 73 posters of them at the entrance to the Israeli Parliament on Feb. 17, 2025, marking 500 days of captivity. Amir Levy/Getty Images
A Hamas leader in Gaza, Khalil Al Hayya, said that among the six living hostages will be Israelis Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held for more than a decade.
According to the Times of Israel, families have confirmed they’ve been notified that living hostages Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, and Tal Shoham are also scheduled for a Saturday release.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
