JERUSALEM: Israel’s prime minister accused Hamas on Friday of murdering two Israeli children in Gaza and said the militants would pay for failing to return their mother, Shiri Bibas, which Hamas blamed on a possible “mix-up of bodies.”
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said after an analysis of the remains that Palestinian militants had killed the Bibas boys “with their bare hands,” while Hamas has long maintained an Israeli air strike killed them and their mother early in the war.
Relatives of the Bibas family, however, suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also accountable for the deaths, saying he would receive “no forgiveness” for abandoning the mother and her children during their ordeal.
More than 15 months of war have left much of Gaza in ruins after Palestinian militants attacked Israel and seized 251 hostages on October 7, 2023. Sixty-seven hostages remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military has said are dead.
Despite the tensions over Thursday’s handover of remains, the next swap of live hostages for Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons was still expected to go ahead Saturday under an ongoing truce deal.
Hamas had said the four bodies returned on Thursday included those of Bibas and her two sons Ariel, aged four at the time of his abduction, and Kfir, the youngest hostage at just nine months old.
On Friday, however, after forensic analysis, Israel said the body purported to be that of Shiri Bibas was not hers, with Netanyahu saying Hamas had “placed the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin.”
Hamas admitted “the possibility of an error or mix-up,” which it attributed to Israeli bombing of the area.
Netanyahu vowed to “ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the agreement.”
In response, Hamas affirmed its “seriousness and full commitment” to its responsibilities under the ceasefire, and said it had “no interest in failing to comply or holding on to any bodies.”
It also asked Israel to return the body of the Gazan woman.
“Who kidnaps a little boy and a baby and murders them? Monsters. That’s who,” Netanyahu said. “I vow that I will not rest until the savages who executed our hostages are brought to justice.”
But the sister-in-law of Shiri Bibas said in a statement that the family was “not seeking revenge right now,” while levelling a measure of the blame at Netanyahu.
“There is no forgiveness for abandoning them on October 7, and no forgiveness for abandoning them in captivity,” Ofri Bibas said.
“We are still waiting for Shiri and fear for her fate.”
British foreign minister David Lammy said that Bibas’s “body must be returned,” while denouncing the “sick and abhorrent” killing of her sons.
“The hostages must be released,” he added. “This nightmare must end.”
In Jerusalem, musician David Shemer, 72, said he hoped Israeli would not retaliate.
“There are voices about totally destroying Gaza and all this. For me, it’s not only inappropriate, it’s immoral,” he said. “Revenge is a very human impulse, but it is useless.”
Hamas also handed over a fourth body on Thursday, that of Oded Lifshitz, a veteran journalist and long-time defender of Palestinian rights who was aged 83 at the time of his capture.
The repatriations were part of the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on January 19 and is to expire in early March.
The deal has so far led to the release of 19 living Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas’s armed wing confirmed that it would release six Israelis on Saturday in the seventh swap of the ceasefire.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said Israel would free 602 inmates in return. Most were arrested after the October 7 attack, it said.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has published the names of the six Israelis to be freed — Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu.
Sayed and Mengistu have been held in Gaza for around a decade.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said talks will begin this week on the truce’s second phase, aiming to lay out a more permanent end to the war.
A Hamas spokesman accused Netanyahu on Thursday of “procrastinating” on phase two, saying the group was “ready to engage” in negotiations.
Alongside the Gaza war, violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu ordered an “intensive operation against centers of terrorism” in the West Bank before visiting troops operating in Tulkarem refugee camp on Friday, his office said.
His order came after bombs exploded on three buses in central Israel without causing any injuries.
Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,214 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,319 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
Netanyahu vows militants to pay as Hamas cites ‘error’ over Bibas body
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Netanyahu vows militants to pay as Hamas cites ‘error’ over Bibas body
- Benjamin Netanyahu threatens retaliation for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas
- Hamas said separately that it would investigate the Israeli assertions and announce the results
Netanyahu tells Macron: Palestinian state ‘huge reward for terrorism’
The French president said he told Netanyahu that “the ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end“
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a “huge reward for terrorism.”
Macron, meanwhile, posted on X that he had told Netanyahu the suffering of civilians in Gaza “must end” and only a ceasefire in the war with Hamas would free the remaining Israeli hostages in the territory.
A statement released by Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders spoke by phone and the Israeli prime minister expressed to the French president his “strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, stating that it would be a huge reward for terrorism.”
“The prime minister told the French president that a Palestinian state established just minutes away from Israeli cities would become a stronghold of Iranian terrorism, and that a vast majority of the Israeli public firmly opposes this — and this has been his consistent and long-standing policy.”
For his part, the French president said he told Netanyahu that “the ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end,” and called for “the opening of all humanitarian aid crossings” into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel has cut off all aid to the Gaza Strip since March 2 to pressure Hamas.
The call came after Macron’s comments last week that Paris could recognize a Palestinian state within months sparked a wave of criticism in Israel, including from Netanyahu and his son, as well as right-wing groups in France.
On Monday, he said he hoped French recognition would encourage others to follow and that countries which did not recognize Israel should also do so.
The day before the call, Macron told the president of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, that he would support a plan for the PA to govern post-war Gaza, if it underwent reform.
“It is essential to set a framework for the day after: disarm and sideline Hamas, define credible governance and reform the Palestinian Authority,” Macron told Abbas in a phone call, according to a post on X.
“This should allow progress toward a two-state political solution, with a view to the peace conference in June, in the service of peace and security for all,” wrote Macron.
Israel has been battling Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the latter attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Jordanian intelligence thwarts plots threatening national security
AMMAN: Officials at Jordan's General Intelligence Department said on Tuesday they had foiled a series of plots targeting the kingdom’s national security, the Jordan News Agency reported.
According to a statement carried by JNA, the GID arrested 16 individuals suspected of “planning acts of chaos and sabotage.”
Authorities said the department had been monitoring the group’s activities since 2021.
The foiled plans reportedly involved the manufacture of missiles using both locally sourced materials and imported components, as well as the possession of explosives and firearms.
Investigators also uncovered a missile that had been concealed and prepared for deployment.
In addition to the weapons cache, the suspects were allegedly engaged in efforts to develop drones, recruit and train individuals within the country, and send others abroad for further training.
All individuals arrested have been referred to the State Security Court for legal proceedings, the GID confirmed.
Nations call for immediate end to ‘horrific’ Sudan war
- UK’s foreign minister David Lammy tells Sudan conference in London of a 'lack of political will' to end the conflict
- Germany, France, EU and African Union co-host event but warring sides did not attend
LONDON: The UK led international calls Tuesday for a swift end to the devastating war in Sudan, hosting a gathering of world officials with fresh pledges of humanitarian aid as the conflict which has cost thousands of lives entered its third year.
The war erupted on April 15, 2023 in a bitter power struggle between rival generals leading Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — neither of whom were present at the conference.
More than 13 million people have been uprooted and tens of thousands killed, with both sides accused of committing atrocities.
It has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
“We simply cannot look away,” the UK’s foreign minister David Lammy said as he opened the talks among counterparts from around 15 countries, denouncing what he called “a lack of political will” to end the fighting.
“We have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country, and to put peace first,” he said, adding it would take “patient diplomacy.”
Various peace efforts have so far failed to lead to a ceasefire.
The continued fighting has fueled fears the tensions will spill over Sudan’s borders and stir further instability in the impoverished Horn of Africa region.
“There can be no military solution in Sudan, only an immediate, unconditional secession of hostilities,” said the African Union’s commissioner for political affairs, Bankole Adeoye.
“This, we believe, must be followed by an all-inclusive dialogue to end the war.”
The war has “shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, which estimated 2,776 children had been killed or maimed in 2023 and 2024.
A UN-backed assessment has concluded that famine is now blighting parts of the country.
Britain’s foreign ministry said more than 30 million people were in desperate need, and 12 million women and girls were in danger of gender-based violence.
Lammy unveiled $159 million in new aid for Sudan, with the EU pledging more than $591 million to address the crisis, and Germany putting up some $142 million.
France also announced an extra $57 million in humanitarian aid this year.
“How can we forget the world’s largest humanitarian crisis?” asked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
During a visit to a refugee camp, she said she heard “horrific reports of women and children being raped” while people were dying of hunger.
Germany and France as well as the European Union and the 55-member African Union are co-hosting the conference with the British government in London.
Ministers from some 14 other countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States were attending, the Foreign Office said, along with high-level representatives from bodies such as the United Nations.
Sudan’s government has protested that it was not invited to participate, soliciting a rebuke from Khartoum.
But the German foreign ministry said both the Sudanese army and the RSF militia were unwilling to come to the table.
Sudan has accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the paramilitary forces with arms shipments. Those fighters and the Gulf state deny the charges.
In a statement Tuesday, the UAE issued “an urgent call for peace” and accused both sides of “committing atrocities.” It said a senior foreign ministry official would attend the London conference.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stressed “the unity of Sudan must be preserved” and there could be no unilateral government imposed on civilians.
The conflict pits the regular army of Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
It was triggered when relations between Burhan and Dagalo soured following a 2021 coup that ousted the transitional government put in place after the 2019 overthrow of longtime leader Omar Al-Bashir.
The RSF are rooted in Darfur and control much of its territory, as well as parts of Sudan’s south.
The army reclaimed the capital Khartoum last month, and holds sway in the east and north, leaving Africa’s third-largest country divided in two.
Algerian expulsion of French officials ‘will have consequences’: French FM
- Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was “regrettable” and warned it “will not be without consequences“
- Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata
PARIS: France’s foreign minister on Tuesday slammed Algeria’s decision to expel 12 French officials and warned of a riposte, as tensions mounted between Paris and its former North African colony.
Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was “regrettable” and warned it “will not be without consequences,” adding that if “Algeria chooses escalation, we will respond with the greatest firmness.”
Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata after the arrest in France of an Algerian consular official, a “vile act” it blamed on French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
For decades, ties between France and Algeria have gone through diplomatic upheavals, and the fresh row comes at a delicate time in relations, underscoring the difficulties in repairing ties.
On Friday, French prosecutors indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of involvement in the 2024 abduction of an opponent of the Algerian government, Amir Boukhors, in a Paris suburb.
The men, who are also being prosecuted for “terrorist” conspiracy, were placed in pre-trial detention.
Lebanon says Israeli strike on south kills one
- A “drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in the town of Aitarun killed one person ,” the health ministry said
- Israel has continued to strike Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed one person in the country’s south on Tuesday, the latest such attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
A “drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in the town of Aitarun killed one person and wounded three others including a child,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, including two months of all-out war.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said Tuesday that at least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect.
The truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Under the truce, Hezbollah was to withdraw fighters from south of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure there.
Israel was to pull out all its forces from south Lebanon, but it continues to hold five positions that it deems “strategic.”
Lebanon’s army has been deploying in the south near the border as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah sites.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in an interview Monday with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera that the army was “dismantling tunnels and warehouses and confiscating weapons bases” south of the Litani “with great professionalism and without any problem from Hezbollah.”
He also said the army was “carrying out its duties north of the Litani,” noting the army had located a warehouse in Jiyeh, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut and “confiscated its contents,” without specifying what, as well as carrying out activities in locations in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
“Even what the army is doing in some places north of the Litani, there has been no objection to, which is also a positive sign,” Aoun added.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Saturday that the group had ceded to the Lebanese army around 190 of its 265 military positions identified south of the Litani.
Also Monday, the Lebanese military said a soldier was killed and three others wounded in an explosion in the country’s south, where Aoun said they had been dismantling mines in a tunnel.
