The UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has strongly criticised Hamas after the group handed over the wrong body in a hostage exchange, calling the act “sick and abhorrent.”
As part of a ceasefire agreement, Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday. Among them were Kfir and Ariel Bibas, two young children, and Oded Lifshitz. However, Israeli authorities later confirmed that the fourth body, believed to be that of their mother, Shiri Bibas, was in fact an unidentified Palestinian woman from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the mistake as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire deal and vowed to hold Hamas accountable. Meanwhile, Hamas claimed that it would conduct a “thorough review” into the incident, suggesting that the confusion could have been caused by Israeli airstrikes on the area where the hostages were being held.
David Lammy condemned both the murder of the children—something Hamas denies—and the failure to return their mother’s remains.
“The vile killing of the Bibas children by Hamas terrorists is sick and abhorrent, as is the failure to return the body of their mother, Shiri, to the grieving family,” the Foreign Secretary posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Her body must be returned. The hostages must be released. This nightmare must end.”
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Hamas’s leader, Mahmoud Mardawi, insisted that the group had handed over Bibas’s body to the Red Cross, which later confirmed it had received human remains and transferred them to Israeli authorities for identification. The mistake has further strained the fragile ceasefire, which has temporarily halted 15 months of war but is now at a critical juncture.
Hamas maintains that it has fully complied with the ceasefire terms and denies any wrongdoing. However, Israel insists that forensic tests prove the two children and Lifshitz were killed by their captors, directly contradicting Hamas’s claim that they died in Israeli airstrikes.
As tensions escalate, Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed to ensure Hamas “pays the full price” for the alleged violation. The situation threatens to derail ongoing negotiations, with international mediators urging both sides to uphold the ceasefire agreement.
With the conflict’s future hanging in the balance, the latest developments underscore the deep divisions between Israel and Hamas, making prospects for lasting peace increasingly uncertain.
