Hamas on Thursday, February 20, 2025, handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the war broke out.
This is the first time the group has released deceased captives.
Three bodies are of Shiri Bibas, who was aged 32 when she and her sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months, were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel by Hamas-led militants.
The fourth body is that of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 years old when he and his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yocheved was released by Hamas on October 24, 2023.
The bodies were handed over to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com