By Mick Krever, Ivana Kottasová, Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Kareem Khadder, Lucas Lilieholm and Edward Szekeres

(CNN) — Hamas on Thursday put on a macabre handover ceremony in central Gaza to return the bodies of four Israeli hostages taken on October 7, 2023.

It was the first time the militant group has released the remains of dead hostages since its attack on Israel, and marked a somber turn for a country more used to elation when former captives returned home alive.

Among those released were said to be the bodies 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 more than 16 months ago. The two boys have become the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks.

The fourth body was 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.

At a press conference Thursday, the Head of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine Dr. Chen Kugel said experts had confirmed that one of the bodies was Lifshitz, but did not comment on the other three bodies.

“We share in the deep sorrow of the Lifshitz family. Today, 503 days after the October 7 massacre, we have determined that Oded Lifshitz was murdered in captivity over a year ago,” Kugel said. Earlier Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Lifshitz had been “murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.”

Israeli officials did not provide details on how they knew Lifshitz was murdered in captivity.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement denied the Israeli claims, saying Lifshitz was killed in an Israeli strike along with “the security team assigned to protect and serve him.” It provided no details or evidence to support its claim.

As in past weeks, Hamas used the handover ceremony as an opportunity for anti-Israel propaganda. But the juxtaposition of four black coffins borne by masked militants rather than living hostages led to widespread condemnation in Israel, whose television networks – unlike in past weeks – did not carry the ceremony live. Loud music blared as Red Cross workers loaded coffins into armored SUVs.

Hamas claimed in November 2023 that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas were killed in an Israeli airstrike, though never presented any evidence, and Israel never confirmed their deaths. Among the propaganda posters strung up by Hamas on Thursday was an image of a vampiric Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looming over an image of the hostages.

“503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end,” the Lifshitz family said in a statement, after receiving confirmation that Oded’s body had been returned. “Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7. Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”

The caskets were first handed to the Red Cross then transferred to the Israeli military, whose soldiers draped the coffins in Israeli flags and brought them into Israel. Scores of people, many waving flags, lined the roads as a convoy carrying the four coffins traveled to Tel Aviv.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said hearts across the country “lie in tatters,” and asked for forgiveness on behalf of the government for failing to protect those captured on October 7.

“Agony. Pain. There are no words,” he wrote in a post on X.

Hamas claimed in November 2023 that the Bibas children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but did not produce any evidence. Israel has never confirmed their deaths.

The children’s father, Yarden Bibas, was released by Hamas earlier this month after 484 days of captivity. He was one of the 19 Israeli hostages freed alive under the January 2025 ceasefire deal.

The Israeli military had previously retrieved the bodies of multiple hostages in Gaza.

Symbols of October 7 horror

At just 9 months old, Kfir was the youngest hostage kidnapped into Gaza and the youngest to have been killed. A photo of him holding a pink elephant toy and looking directly at the camera with a toothless smile has been featured in numerous campaigns and protests around the world.

His brother Ariel, just 4 at the time of the attack, was often shown in a photo taken after he had a haircut, still wrapped in the hairdresser’s cape. Earlier photos of the family showed Ariel, a big fan of Batman, with locks of long red hair.

The picture was shown on the large screens at New York City’s Times Square, printed on t-shirts worn by protesters in London, Berlin and elsewhere, and brought to the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

A video of the Bibas family’s abduction became one of the symbols of the brutality of the October 7 terror attack. It showed a terrified Shiri clinging tightly to her children wrapped in a blanket, with Ariel still sucking his pacifier.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later released another video, which they said showed Shiri and the two boys alive in southern Gaza on October 7. The footage showed a person wrapped in a blanket carrying a child being ordered around by armed militants before being put in a car and driven away.

The two boys and their mother were not released from Gaza during the temporary truce in late November 2023, even though the deal agreed between Israel and Hamas called for all women and children to be set free.

The IDF said at that time they believed the family was being held by other militant groups, not Hamas.

Later that week, Hamas said the two Bibas children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, without providing evidence. Israel never confirmed their deaths.

A few days after making the claim, Hamas released a video of Yarden, the father, in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the death of his wife and two children.

Yarden appeared to be in extreme distress in the video and was very likely speaking under duress.

In a statement published shortly after his release this month, Yarden urged the world to “continue doing everything possible” to ensure all hostages return home.

“Sadly, my family hasn’t returned to me yet. They are still there. My light is still there, and as long as they’re there, everything here is dark. Thanks to you, I was brought back - help me bring the light back to my life,” he said, referring to the Israeli public.

The run up to the release of the four bodies on Thursday was marred by the Bibas family’s anger at the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, which they said had released the names without their approval.

A source in the Prime Minister’s office told CNN that while it had not published an official statement with the names of the dead hostages, IDF liaison officers had approved the publishing of the names to reporters without clearing this first with the family.

The forum later released a statement at the request of the Bibas family asking the public not to “eulogize our loved ones until there is a confirmation after final identification.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Correction: The headline on this story has been corrected to reflect that Israel has not yet confirmed the Bibas family were among the four bodies released Thursday

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