The body of Shiri Bibas was returned to Israel from Gaza early on Saturday morning, with the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir confirming, following extensive testing, that the remains belong to her.
This came a day after the IDF announced that the remains Hamas sent on Friday claiming to be hers were not.
The IDF said that forensic officials carried out several tests on the anonymous woman’s body to ensure accuracy of the results, Army Radio reported on Friday, adding that the body was received in “a condition in which it could be clearly verified that it does not belong to Shiri Bibas.”
“This is a very serious violation by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is required by the agreement to return four dead hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages,” the military said.
Returning the Gazan woman's body
Israel announced on Friday night that it would be handing the body of the woman Hamas had misidentified as Shiri back to Gaza’s health authorities.
The testing team was composed of a variety of specialists, including the DNA laboratory team and the institute’s director, Dr. Chen Kugel.
The institute was also responsible for identifying the remains of Kfir and Ariel Bibas.
Hamas murdered the brothers within the first few weeks of the war, IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari announced in a statement on Friday.
The military was able to verify that Hamas murdered the Bibas children and attempted to conceal the evidence of the murders by making the bodies look as if they had been bombed by the IDF.
“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys – they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities,” Hagari said in the statement. “This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that supports the findings.”
The forensics team that identified Shiri Bibas’s body confirmed that she also did not die in an Israeli airstrike as Hamas had previously claimed.
“We were met with depths of evil and malice that could not be comprehended,” Kugel, a leading forensic scientist from the National Center of Forensic Medicine, said on Saturday. “Our examination showed no evidence of injury from the bomb.”
“This is a difficult day for us and for all citizens of Israel,” he concluded.
“It is with great pain that we received the news of the identification of the late Shiri Bibas, who was murdered in captivity by the sons of injustice and was returned to Israel yesterday for eternal rest,” The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said following the announcement.” The return of the late Shiri ends 505 agonizing days of uncertainty and deep pain. We share in the great sorrow of the Bibas family and will continue to accompany and embrace them.”