Hamas hands over bodies of four Israeli hostages

Hamas has returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to embody the nation's agony following the October 2023, attack.

Red Cross vehicles drove away from the handover site in the Gaza Strip with four black coffins that had been placed on a stage. Each of the caskets had a small picture of the hostages.

Armed Hamas militants in black and camouflage uniforms surrounded the area.

"The war criminal Netanyahu and his army killed them with rockets from Zionist fighter jets," read the text next to the images. An Israeli TV presenter described the scene as a "theatre of terror."

According to Hamas, the remains released were Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir.

Kfir was the youngest captive taken that day. Hamas has said all three were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war. The militant group also released the body of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted.

Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed fighters from Hamas and other factions, gathered at the handover site on Thursday on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

In Tel Aviv, people gathered, some weeping, at what has come to be known as Hostages Square outside Israel's defence headquarters.

"Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts - the hearts of an entire nation - lie in tatters," Israel's President Isaac Herzog said.

One militant stood beside a poster of a man standing over coffins wrapped in Israeli flags. Instead of legs he had tree roots in the ground, suggesting the land belongs to Palestinians. The poster read "The Return of the War=The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins".

Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war. But the handover on Thursday provided a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.

It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.

Israel had previously said it had "grave concern" for the lives of the Bibas family.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a brief video statement that Thursday would be "a very difficult day for the state of Israel. An upsetting day, a day of grief."

At the handover site, a large poster was hung up, depicting Netanyahu as a vampire standing over images of the four hostages. "The War Criminal Netanyahu & His Nazi Army Killed Them with Missiles from Zionist Warplanes," the poster read.

Following Thursday's handover, the remains will be moved into coffins draped with the Israeli flag and an army rabbi will provide over a short ceremony. They will then be taken into Israel to the national forensic institute to be identified, a process that could take a few hours or even a few days.

Israel is not expected to confirm their identities until full DNA checks have been completed. Only after identification will there be a formal announcement of their deaths and a funeral.

Despite accusations on both sides of ceasefire breaches, the fragile agreement that took effect on January 19 has held up since the first in a series of exchanges of hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.

Netanyahu has faced criticism from his far-right coalition allies for agreeing to the deal, which some in Israel feel rewards Hamas and leaves the militant group in place in Gaza.

Agencies