# Israel says forensic tests show returned body was not Shiri Bibas as ceasefire dispute deepens
Israeli authorities say forensic testing has shown that one of the bodies returned by Hamas under the ceasefire deal was not Shiri Bibas and did not match any other hostage. The finding has turned a hostage handover that was meant to bring closure to a grief-stricken family into another test of the truce.
According to the evidence in the packet, the bodies of Shiri Bibas's sons, Ariel and Kfir, were identified after being returned alongside the remains of Oded Lifshitz. Israel says the fourth body handed over was instead an unidentified Gazan woman. The BBC report says the Israel Defense Forces described the body as anonymous and said no match was found for any other hostage.
The dispute matters because the handover of deceased hostages is part of the phased ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Hamas. The arrangement, which began on January 19, requires Hamas to return four deceased hostages in the relevant exchange. Israeli officials say that obligation was not met. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of placing the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin instead of Shiri Bibas.
Hamas disputed the Israeli account and told Reuters it would investigate how the wrong remains were sent. One Hamas spokesman said the remains may have been mixed up among bodies under rubble after an Israeli air strike. In its own statement, Hamas said it remained committed to its obligations under the agreement, even as Israeli officials described the incident as a severe violation.
The Bibas family has become one of the most recognisable symbols of the hostage crisis in Israel. Shiri Bibas was 32 when she was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, along with her sons Ariel, then four, and Kfir, who was nine months old. Their father, Yarden Bibas, was released earlier in February. The return of the children's bodies triggered public mourning, but the dispute over Shiri's remains has reopened the wound.
The broader ceasefire still appears to be moving forward, but slowly and under pressure. The BBC report says 28 hostages and more than 1,000 prisoners had already been exchanged, while talks on the next phase of the deal had not yet begun. Israel says it expects eight bodies to be handed over in total, and there are still dozens of hostages in Gaza.
For now, the immediate issue is no longer only the pace of the exchange but the credibility of the process itself. Israel is demanding that Hamas return Shiri Bibas, while Hamas says it is examining what went wrong. The row adds another layer of uncertainty to a deal already carrying deep emotional and political weight.
