Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, said he would not have supported such an attack on Israel had he known of the devastation it would wreak on Gaza.
Monday is the 500th day of the war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel. A tenuous ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has held for nearly a month.
Hamas said it had returned the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons. The Israeli military announced that the boys were murdered in Gaza and that Ms. Bibas’s body was that of someone else.
President Donald Trump has issued a stark ultimatum to Hamas regarding the remaining hostages in Gaza, setting a Saturday deadline that could potentially reshape the current Middle East ceasefire. Here’s what you need to know about this developing situation.
Israel says it has identified two of the dead bodies returned by Hamas on Thursday as Ariel and Kfir Bibas – but tests show another body that was expected to be that of their mother Shiri is not hers – and does not match any other Israeli hostage.
Hamas said the bodies included members of the Bibas family, believed to be Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir.
A senior Hamas official said the group will not disarm and may even grow after the war in Gaza, warning other countries against cooperating with Israel in the enclave.