(CLO) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge on Thursday against Hamas after the group released what it said were the bodies of four Israeli hostages, including two boys - the youngest of the hostages kidnapped in the October 7 attack.
Palestinian militants presented four black coffins in a carefully choreographed public ceremony, with dozens of armed Hamas militants and crowds of Palestinians gathered to watch.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk has condemned the move, saying the parade of bodies is a disgusting and cruel act that goes against international law.
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Video of Hamas returning hostages (source: X)
Israelis lined the road in the rain near the Gaza border to pay their respects as the convoy carrying the coffin passed. In Tel Aviv, people gathered, some weeping, in a public square across from the Israeli defense headquarters, known as Hostage Square.
Mr Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas in a recorded speech released after the hostages' bodies were returned, saying the "four coffins" forced Israel to ensure "more than ever" that the October 7 attack would not be repeated.
The bodies believed to be those of the boys, their mother Shiri Bibas and a fourth hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were returned under a Gaza ceasefire reached last month with US backing and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
In November 2023, Hamas said the boys and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike, although Tel Aviv did not acknowledge this. Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Lifshitz was killed while in captivity by Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza.
Chen Kugel, head of Israel's National Center for Forensic Medicine, later said on television that Lifshitz had been murdered more than a year ago. But neither Kugel nor the Israeli prime minister would say how the cause of death was determined.
The Hamas-led offensive into Israel killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, with 251 kidnapped. Palestinian health officials say the Israeli retaliation killed more than 48,000 people – mostly children and women. Israel’s war also left Gaza in ruins, leaving millions homeless and in dire straits.
Bui Huy (according to AJ, Reuters, NYT)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/hamas-trao-tra-thi-the-cua-cac-con-tin-nhi-thu-tuong-israel-noi-se-tra-thu-thu-post335430.html
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