Released Israeli Captives Were Killed by Israel Using US-Made Bombs: Gaza Resistance
Gaza (Quds News Network)- The Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza stated that the four Israeli captives released on Thursday were killed by Israeli forces using US-made bombs, as they handed over the bodies of the captives.
On Thursday, the resistance groups handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives to the International Red Cross as part of the prisoner exchange deal under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The four captives are Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz.
Hamas previously said Shiri Bibas and her children were killed in an Israeli air attack in November 2023. Her husband, Yarden, was released last week in the ongoing captives and prisoner exchanges.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas confirmed, “All of them were alive before the Zionist occupation aircraft deliberately bombed the locations where they were being held.”
The coffins of the four captives were placed on a platform with the writing “War Criminal Netanyahu and His Army Killed Them With Missiles and Zionist Warplanes” with the pictures of the four captives and Netanyahu in the background, where a handover agreement was signed between a Hamas representative and the Red Cross.
Palestinian resistance groups handed over the bodies of four Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, who were deliberately killed by the army’s missiles during the genocide. pic.twitter.com/O3p9D6fC7y
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 20, 2025
Banners were also seen reading, “The Return of War = The Return of Your Prisoners in Coffins,” and “We Never Forgave nor Forgot, ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ was Our Promise.”
“They Were Killed by USA Bombs,” was also displayed on missiles set up on the handover stage, sending a message that the Israeli captives were killed by US-made bombs supplied to the Israeli forces.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas confirmed, “All of them were alive before the Zionist occupation aircraft deliberately bombed the locations where they were being held.”
Ahead of the release of the bodies of the four captives on Thursday, Hamas said the resistance in Gaza “were careful to respect the sanctity of the dead and the feelings of their families, despite the fact that the occupation army showed no regard for their lives when they were alive.”
“We safeguarded the lives of the occupation’s captives, provided them with whatever we could, and treated them humanely, while their army killed them alongside their captors,” it added.
Hamas said the Israeli forces “killed its captives by bombing their locations, and the Nazi occupation government is fully responsible for repeatedly obstructing the exchange agreement.”
“The criminal Netanyahu is now lamenting the bodies of the captives, returned to him in coffins, in a blatant attempt to avoid taking responsibility for their deaths in front of his audience.”
Hamas noted the Qassam Brigades and the resistance “did everything possible to protect the prisoners and preserve their lives, but the ongoing and brutal bombings by the occupation prevented them from saving all of them.”
In a message to the families of Bibas and Lifshitz, Hamas said, “We would have preferred your sons returned to you alive, but the leaders of your army and government chose to kill them rather than rescue them. They also killed 17,881 Palestinian children in their criminal bombing of Gaza, and we know that you understand who is truly responsible for their deaths. You have been victims of a leadership that does not care for its own people.”
It added, “We affirm that an exchange is the only way to bring the prisoners back alive to their families, and any attempt to recover them through military force or return to war will only result in more losses among the prisoners.”
This week, the shipment of heavy MK-84 bombs arrived in Israel after being authorized by US President Donald Trump, following a pause imposed by his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, due to concerns over the genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s Defence Ministry said the shipment of MK-84 heavy munitions, which are 2,000-pound (900kg) aircraft bombs, was carried to air bases by trucks after arriving in Israel’s Ashdod Port overnight.
The head of Gaza’s Government Media Office Salama Maroof criticized the US decision to send the heavy bombs.
“Instead of sending food, medicine, water, or shelter and building materials to the victims in the Gaza Strip, even with a humanitarian motive, the United States of America, the first democracy in the world and a pioneer of human rights, as it describes itself, supports the criminal occupation army with 1,800 heavy MK bombs,” Maroof said.
The shipment arrived amid concerns about whether a fragile ceasefire in Gaza agreed last month would hold.
The Biden administration has set a record by spending at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel in the year following October 7, 2023, according to a recent report by Brown University’s Costs of War project.
