What is going on in Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza?

Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades handed over the alleged body of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross, Al Jazeera reported on Friday evening citing a "special source."

Israel is currently investigating the report.

This is a developing story.

The IDF is preparing to receive six hostages from Hamas on Saturday morning, Israeli media reported on Friday evening.

The six hostages being released are Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Tal Shoham. 

They will be released from two different locations in the Gaza Strip early in the morning.

The IDF is preparing for a variety of possible escalations if the hostage release process is disrupted.

Hamas murdered Ariel and Kfir Bibas within the first few weeks of the war, IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari announced in a statement on Friday.

The IDF was able to verify that Hamas murdered the Bibas kids and attempted to conceal the evidence of the murders by making the bodies look as if they had been bombed by the IDF.

Ariel and Kfir were kidnapped along with their mother, Shiri, on October 7, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated into Israeli territory.

IDF forensic findings

Official identification has linked the remains of Kfir and Ariel Bibas on Thursday, the IDF confirmed early Friday morning, alongside a report on forensic findings of the case.

A mural of the Bibas family is seen in Tel Aviv, February 20, 2025 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Available intelligence and forensic evidence from the identification process have led officials to determine that the two children were brutally murdered in captivity by Gaza terrorists in November 2023, just a month after their abduction, and were not killed by an IAF strike, as Hamas originally claimed.

The two boys were aged nine months and four years old, respectively, at the time of their abduction on October 7, 2023. The bodies were identified using forensic analysis in an interdepartmental collaboration between the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police.

Joanie Margulies contributed to this article.

Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday that Israel is expected to free 602 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Saturday's hostage-prisoner exchange, the group's prisoner media office reported.

Israel received the list of hostages scheduled to be released on Saturday by Hamas as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced on Friday afternoon.

"The families of the hostages on the list have been notified. We ask people to refrain from spreading rumors and unofficial information," the PMO added. 

Hamas denied Israel's announcement that the hostage body returned on Thursday wasn't that of Shiri Bibas, saying it was "surprised by the uproar" in an official statement on Friday.

"Hamas is surprised by the uproar caused by the occupation following its claim that the body of the detainee, Shiri Bibas, does not match the DNA test," the terror group said. 

Hamas also said that if it found Israel's forensic results to be true, it would "call for the return of the body" that was brought to Israel, which "the occupation claims belongs to a Palestinian woman."

Hamas denied Israel's announcement that the hostage body returned on Thursday wasn't that of Shiri Bibas, saying it was "surprised by the uproar" in an official statement on Friday.

"Hamas is surprised by the uproar caused by the occupation following its claim that the body of the detainee, Shiri Bibas, does not match the DNA test," the terror group said. 

Hamas also said that if it found Israel's forensic results to be true, it would "call for the return of the body" that was brought to Israel, which "the occupation claims belongs to a Palestinian woman."

Hamas claimed that Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas's body appears to have been mixed with other human remains in rubble after an Israeli air strike, according to a Friday Reuters report citing a Hamas official. 

Hamas has spread disinformation in the past, and Israel is yet to respond to this new information.

This is developing story.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) arrested a Jewish Israeli who reportedly drove the terrorist that planted bombs on buses in the Bat Yam area of central Israel on Thursday evening, Israeli media reported on Friday.

Lebanon's Hezbollah will bury its former leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in a mass funeral aimed at showing political strength after the group emerged badly weakened from last year's war.

Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in an Israeli airstrike as he met commanders in a bunker in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stunning blow in the early phase of an Israeli offensive that has left the Iran-backed group a shadow of its former self.

Revered by Hezbollah supporters, Nasrallah led the Shi'ite Muslim group through decades of conflict with Israel, overseeing its transformation into a military force with regional sway and becoming one of the most prominent Arab figures in generations.

The funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs will also honor Hashem Safieddine, who led Hezbollah for one week after Nasrallah's death before he was also killed by Israel. He will be buried in the south on Monday.

"The funeral is a launchpad for the next phase. A great funeral that draws hundreds of thousands is a way of telling everyone that Hezbollah still exists, that it is still the main Shi'ite actor in Lebanon," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.