'A day of grief': Bodies of Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz expected to be released Thursday, Israel confirms

Israel is bracing for what is shaping up to be one of the most difficult days the nation has gone through since the start of the war, nearly one and a half years ago.

Late Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) confirmed that Israel had received from Hamas the list of the killed hostages who are set to be returned the next day.

The names on the list are: Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz. The PMO said the families have been notified.

“At this difficult hour, our hearts are with the grieving families,” the PMO added. “Additional credible information will be provided as needed, and we request to refrain from disseminating rumors and unofficial information.”

Shortly before the PMO's announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had turned to the nation in a video message.

“Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for the State of Israel. A wrenching day, a day of grief. We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages, deceased,” Netanyahu said.

The Bibas family released a statement, saying: “Should we receive devastating news, it must come through the proper official channels after all identification procedures are completed. We ask to refrain from eulogizing our loved ones until there is confirmation following final identification.”

Earlier this week, Hamas and Israel agreed on the release on Thursday of four bodies of Israeli hostages, who were kidnapped by the terrorists on Oct. 7 and were since killed in captivity.

“We embrace the families, and the heart of the entire nation is torn. My own heart is torn. So is yours. And all of the world's heart should be torn, because this demonstrates who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with – with such monsters,” Netanyahu continued.

“We are grieving, we are in pain, but we are also determined to ensure that such a thing never happens again,” the prime minister vowed.

After the PMO's statement, the family of 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz announced that they had been informed his body would be returned tomorrow.

"These are difficult times for us," the family stated. "For 502 days we hoped and prayed for a different ending, but until we receive absolute certainty, our journey will not end, and even after that we will continue to fight until the last hostage is returned."

Hamas has stated that the handover of the hostage bodies would commence early Thursday morning in the southern town of Khan Younis. The terror group reportedly plans to transfer the hostage bodies to the Red Cross, which will transport them to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops.

The Red Cross called on Hamas not to repeat its cynical and degrading handover ceremonies during the transfer of the bodies. “We must be clear: any degrading treatment during release operations is unacceptable,” the International Committee of the Red Cross stated.

Meanwhile, the IDF said it will conduct a short ceremony honoring the hostages upon receiving their bodies, which will be placed in coffins draped with an Israeli flag.

A military salute will be carried out while an IDF rabbi recites a Psalm, before the bodies will be taken to the Forensic Institute at Abu Kabir to be identified. The families will be informed, and only then will the IDF publish an official announcement.

According to Army Radio, the final identification could take up to 48 hours, depending on the state of the bodies.

“We did not complete the mission of bringing the fallen home alive to their families. Their return for a proper burial in Israeli soil is a fitting and necessary closure for the families,” the IDF stated.

In exchange for the killed hostages, Israel is preparing to release on Saturday the first half of a group of 50 women, and men under 19 years, who were detained by the Israeli army during the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

This was part of an annex to the ceasefire agreement that was kept secret until this week. The 50 detainees will be freed on the condition that they were neither involved in the Oct. 7 invasion nor directly involved in the fighting.

However, they were mostly detained during raids of Hamas compounds in Gaza, and assisted the terrorists indirectly, for example, as scouts. The second half of this group will be released after the final four hostage bodies are returned next Thursday.

In addition to the 23-25 women or minors, some 600 additional Palestinian prisoners will be released after Hamas frees six living Israeli hostages on Saturday.

This will reportedly include 50 terrorists serving life sentences, 47 terrorists who were released under the Shalit deal in 2011 and re-arrested later, and another 445 male Gazans who were detained during the fighting.