IDF releases photos of coffins of slain hostages 

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released photos that rip the heart from a nation: soldiers in Gaza carrying four black coffins, draped in Israeli flags, bearing the remains of Shiri Bibas, her sons Ariel (4) and Kfir (9 months at abduction), and Oded Lifshitz (84), handed over by Hamas after 503 days of torment.

These images—solemn yet seething with unspoken fury—capture the moment the Red Cross delivered the slain hostages from a Khan Younis propaganda stunt, where Hamas paraded their deaths as a twisted victory.

Shiri Bibas—last seen clutching Ariel and Kfir in a harrowing October 7, 2023, video as Hamas gunmen swarmed Kibbutz Nir Oz—now lies silent. Ariel, the Batman-loving four-year-old, and Kfir, the redheaded infant who never walked free, are beside her, their tiny lives extinguished in Gaza’s hell. Oded Lifshitz, the 84-year-old peace activist whose home was torched that same day, completes the quartet of loss.

The coffins rolled out of Gaza in IDF vehicles, bound for Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, where identification could take 48 hours. But for Israelis, the sight of those flagged boxes is proof enough of a crime that demands blood.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s voice cracked as he called it “a shocking day, a day of grief”—words too small for a nation watching its soul bleed out. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum keened for “Shiri’s boundless kindness, Ariel’s tractor games, Kfir’s melting smile, and Oded’s Super Grandpa wisdom,” their statement a dirge for the 69 still captive.

At Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, orange-clad mourners—the color of the Bibas boys’ fiery hair—sobbed and raged as the photos flashed on screens. “Justice is killing every last one of them!” roared Or Benaroya, a cashier, her words mirrored by a citizen’s manifesto: “The skies will blacken with planes… tanks will thunder into Gaza… every soldier’s step a vow of revenge.”

For 16 months, Israel ached for Shiri and her boys. Yarden Bibas, their father, stumbled out of captivity on February 1, 2025, after 486 days of starvation and isolation, refusing to believe Hamas’s November 2023 claim that an airstrike killed his family. A 2024 IDF video showed them alive in Khan Yunis days after their abduction, proof they survived the initial horror—only to perish later, perhaps by execution, neglect, or the chaos Hamas blames on Israel.

Today’s photos shred that hope. The coffins, stark against Gaza’s rubble, mock the ceasefire’s first phase, which freed 19 living hostages but delivered these four as corpses. Hamas’s claim of Israeli bombs rings hollow and the Mujahideen Brigades, who held them, share the guilt.

The handover itself was a slap: Hamas staged it at 9:00 AM in Khan Younis, coffins on display as a commander signed papers with a Red Cross official, a banner screaming Netanyahu’s name in accusation.

Israelis saw red. “This cruelty demands annihilation!” one mourner spat at Hostages Square. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi bellowed, “Bring Hamas to the gates of hell!”—a vow echoed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Whatever happens (or doesn't happen) none of us will forget Shiri Bibas and her babies and Oded Lifshitz and none of us will ever forgive their murder.