Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has accused Hamas of a “very serious violation” of the terms of the hostage handover, saying the body of Shiri Bibas was not among the bodies received on Thursday.
It said in a statement: “During the identification process, it was found that the additional body received was not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other abductee.” The bodies of her children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were four years and nine months old respectively, had been identified, the IDF said.
The military has demanded that the body of Shiri Bibas be returned home along with all other hostages. It did not specify a timeframe.
Bibas and her children – who Hamas claims were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early days of the war – became an indelible symbol of the attack of 7 October 2023. Shiri Bibas’s parents were killed in the Hamas offensive, and her husband, Yarden, was taken captive and released earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military to step up its offensives across the occupied West Bank after a series of bomb blasts involving buses rocked central Israel on Thursday.
“In light of the serious attempted attacks in the Gush Dan [central] area by Palestinian terrorist organisations against the civilian population in Israel, I have instructed the IDF to intensify operations to thwart terrorism in the Tulkarem refugee camp and in all the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria” Katz said in a statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the blasts.
More details soon.
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One of the four bodies Hamas returned to Israel on Thursday is not that of Shiri Bibas, the Israeli military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of a ceasefire deal that was already fragile.
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The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Friday that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’ children, Ariel and Kfir, but said that during the identification process it was determined the additional body received was not Shiri Bibas and no match was found for any other hostage. “This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” it said. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.” There was no immediate response from Hamas.
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Bibas and her children became a symbol of the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023. The militant group has said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early days of the war. However, the IDF said on Friday that they had been murdered in captivity, posting on X: “According to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.”
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The IDF’s statement Friday’s statement came hours after Israeli prime Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to conduct an “intense operation” against “terror hubs” in the occupied West Bank after a series of explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, a city outside Tel Aviv, that authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack. No injuries were reported.
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Explosives were found on two other buses but did not detonate, Israeli police said. The five bombs were identical and equipped with timers, and bomb squads were defusing the unexploded bombs, they said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions
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The IDF said it “was decided to reinforce with three battalions in the Central Command sector” of the West Bank.
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Thursday’s handover of bodies is to be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
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The family of Oded Lifshitz have said in a statement that his body has been formally identified, Reuters reports.
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His body was released by Hamas in Gaza on Thursday along with three others under the ceasefire deal reached last month.
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Lifshitz, an 85-year-old peace activist and retired journalist, had not previously been confirmed as dead. He had been abducted by militants and brought to Gaza on 7 October 2023. Hamas released his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, in November 2023.
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The Israeli military said on Friday that two of the four bodies released were identified as infant Kfir and his brother Ariel Bibas while a third body that was supposed to be their mother, Shiri, was found not to match with any hostage and remained unidentified, the military said. It accused the militant group of violating the already fragile ceasefire.
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There was no immediate response from Hamas.
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Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the Israeli military to carry out an intensive operation against what he called “centres of terrorism” in the West Bank.
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The Israeli prime minister also said on social media that he had ordered Shin Bet and police to increase “preventative” measures against attacks on Israeli cities.
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The move comes after a series of blasts on three parked buses on Thursday which Israeli authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack. No injuries were reported.
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A post from Netanyahu’s prime ministerial account on X said today:
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The Prime Minister has ordered the IDF to carry out an intensive operation against centers of terrorism in Judea and Samaria. The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the ISA [Israeli security agency] to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities.
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Welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has accused Hamas of a “very serious violation” of the terms of the hostage handover, saying the body of Shiri Bibas was not among the bodies received on Thursday.
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It said in a statement: “During the identification process, it was found that the additional body received was not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other abductee.” The bodies of her children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were four years and nine months old respectively, had been identified, the IDF said.
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The military has demanded that the body of Shiri Bibas be returned home along with all other hostages. It did not specify a timeframe.
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Bibas and her children – who Hamas claims were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early days of the war – became an indelible symbol of the attack of 7 October 2023. Shiri Bibas’s parents were killed in the Hamas offensive, and her husband, Yarden, was taken captive and released earlier this month.
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Meanwhile, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military to step up its offensives across the occupied West Bank after a series of bomb blasts involving buses rocked central Israel on Thursday.
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“In light of the serious attempted attacks in the Gush Dan [central] area by Palestinian terrorist organisations against the civilian population in Israel, I have instructed the IDF to intensify operations to thwart terrorism in the Tulkarem refugee camp and in all the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria” Katz said in a statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the blasts.
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More details soon.
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Key events
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Summary
We’re pausing our live coverage of the Middle East crisis now – it’s approaching 4.30am in Tel Aviv and Gaza City. You can read all the key developments in our latest full report. Here’s where things stand:
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One of the four bodies Hamas returned to Israel on Thursday is not that of Shiri Bibas, the Israeli military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of a ceasefire deal that was already fragile.
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The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Friday that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’ children, Ariel and Kfir, but said that during the identification process it was determined the additional body received was not Shiri Bibas and no match was found for any other hostage. “This is an anonymous, unidentified body,” it said. “We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.” There was no immediate response from Hamas.
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Bibas and her children became a symbol of the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023. The militant group has said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early days of the war. However, the IDF said on Friday that they had been murdered in captivity, posting on X: “According to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.”
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The IDF’s statement Friday’s statement came hours after Israeli prime Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to conduct an “intense operation” against “terror hubs” in the occupied West Bank after a series of explosions on three parked buses in Bat Yam, a city outside Tel Aviv, that authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack. No injuries were reported.
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Explosives were found on two other buses but did not detonate, Israeli police said. The five bombs were identical and equipped with timers, and bomb squads were defusing the unexploded bombs, they said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosions
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The IDF said it “was decided to reinforce with three battalions in the Central Command sector” of the West Bank.
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Thursday’s handover of bodies is to be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Here’s more on Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose body was returned to Israel on Thursday.
Agence France-Presse reports the veteran journalist was a long-time defender of Palestinian rights and a founder of the Nir Oz kibbutz where he lived and was abducted, aged 83, during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, alongside his wife Yocheved Lifshitz, 85. She who was released 16 days later for what Hamas called “humanitarian reasons”.
Interviewed on Israel’s Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday, she said her husband had “fought for the Palestinians his whole life – they betrayed him and took him to hell”.
In a long career with the now defunct, left-leaning newspaper Al-Hamishmar, Oded Lifshitz defended Palestinian rights and advocated for peace. In 1972, he defended Bedouins who were expelled from the Sinai Peninsula by occupying Israeli authorities. A decade later, he was one of the first journalists to report on the Sabra and Shatila massacres in which Israeli-backed Christian militias killed between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps.
More recently, Lifshitz – an Arabic speaker – had been actively involved for years with Road to Recovery, an organisation which helps Palestinians receive medical treatment in Israel.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, who had met with his daughter, said he was “deeply saddened” to hear of Lifshitz’s death, saying in a statement:
It is my hope that the peace he worked to see in the region through his charity work and activism will be achieved.
The Israeli military’s accusation that Hamas has breached the ceasefire with a “violation of utmost severity” came just hours after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a further crackdown on the occupied West Bank over a series of bus explosions.
Full more on that and all the latest key developments, see our new full report here:
Oded Lifshitz’s body formally identified, says family
The family of Oded Lifshitz have said in a statement that his body has been formally identified, Reuters reports.
His body was released by Hamas in Gaza on Thursday along with three others under the ceasefire deal reached last month.
Lifshitz, an 85-year-old peace activist and retired journalist, had not previously been confirmed as dead. He had been abducted by militants and brought to Gaza on 7 October 2023. Hamas released his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, in November 2023.
The Israeli military said on Friday that two of the four bodies released were identified as infant Kfir and his brother Ariel Bibas while a third body that was supposed to be their mother, Shiri, was found not to match with any hostage and remained unidentified, the military said. It accused the militant group of violating the already fragile ceasefire.
There was no immediate response from Hamas.
The Israeli military says it is to bolster its troops in the West Bank with three battalions in the central area and is ready to “expand offensive activities”.
An IDF post on X, translated from the Hebrew, said:
According to the situation assessment, it was decided to reinforce with three battalions in the Central Command sector.
The IDF continues to conduct ongoing situation assessments and is prepared to expand offensive activities. The operation to thwart terrorism in northern Samaria continues constantly.
The IDF will continue to act defensively and offensively to ensure the security of Israeli civilians.
Netanyahu orders ‘intensive’ military operation in West Bank
Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the Israeli military to carry out an intensive operation against what he called “centres of terrorism” in the West Bank.
The Israeli prime minister also said on social media that he had ordered Shin Bet and police to increase “preventative” measures against attacks on Israeli cities.
The move comes after a series of blasts on three parked buses on Thursday which Israeli authorities said was a suspected terrorist attack. No injuries were reported.
A post from Netanyahu’s prime ministerial account on X said today:
The Prime Minister has ordered the IDF to carry out an intensive operation against centers of terrorism in Judea and Samaria. The Prime Minister also ordered the Israel Police and the ISA [Israeli security agency] to increase preventative activity against additional attacks in Israeli cities.
The Israeli military has said the two Bibas boys were “murdered by terrorists” in Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said earlier that Ariel and Kfir Bibas had been identified after their bodies were released by Hamas on Thursday under the current ceasefire agreement.
The boys had been aged four years and nine months old respectively when they were abducted by Hamas.
The militant group has claimed the two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The IDF posted on X today:
According to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has accused Hamas of a “very serious violation” of the terms of the hostage handover, saying the body of Shiri Bibas was not among the bodies received on Thursday.
It said in a statement: “During the identification process, it was found that the additional body received was not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other abductee.” The bodies of her children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were four years and nine months old respectively, had been identified, the IDF said.
The military has demanded that the body of Shiri Bibas be returned home along with all other hostages. It did not specify a timeframe.
Bibas and her children – who Hamas claims were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early days of the war – became an indelible symbol of the attack of 7 October 2023. Shiri Bibas’s parents were killed in the Hamas offensive, and her husband, Yarden, was taken captive and released earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military to step up its offensives across the occupied West Bank after a series of bomb blasts involving buses rocked central Israel on Thursday.
“In light of the serious attempted attacks in the Gush Dan [central] area by Palestinian terrorist organisations against the civilian population in Israel, I have instructed the IDF to intensify operations to thwart terrorism in the Tulkarem refugee camp and in all the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria” Katz said in a statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the blasts.
More details soon.