ISLAMABAD (PEN) : Hamas has announced the release of six more hostages from Gaza following the return of the body of Bibas’ mother. Hamas is set to release six more hostages from Gaza on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, following a tense series of events. The release came after Israel confirmed that the body handed over earlier was that of Shiri Bibas, one of the hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The initial misidentification of the body released on Thursday had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire agreement. However, on Friday, Hamas returned another body, which was confirmed by Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine to be Bibas. Her family confirmed the tragic news, calling it the return of Shiri “home.”
The release of these six hostages is part of the first stage of a ceasefire deal, which also involves the release of 602 Palestinian prisoners in return. The hostages include people who were taken during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, as well as others who had been held for years under unclear circumstances.
The family of Shiri Bibas has become a symbol of the trauma Israel endured on that day, particularly after the misidentification of her remains and the subsequent outrage over the staged handover. The Bibas family, already grappling with the heartbreaking loss of Shiri and her children, now faces the painful reality of the deliberate killings of Shiri and her sons by their captors.
Despite the challenges in the negotiations, both Israel and Hamas have indicated that talks for the next stage of the ceasefire are ongoing, though there are deep divisions over the future of Gaza. While the ceasefire has provided a temporary respite, the ultimate resolution to the conflict remains uncertain, with prospects of a definitive end to the war clouded by political tensions and the devastation in the region.
