JERUSALEM – The remains released by Palestinian militants have been confirmed as belonging to Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother who lost her two young sons while they were held captive. This confirmation comes from her family, who provided the information following the return of her remains.

Hamas initially announced on Thursday that they had returned Bibas’ body along with those of her sons and another hostage. However, following forensic testing, it was revealed that the remains claimed to be Bibas’ were actually those of an unidentified Palestinian woman, leading to widespread confusion and anger.

In response to this situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Hamas, labeling their actions as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ongoing ceasefire agreement. He also promised to take retaliatory actions against the militants.

As tensions continued to escalate, Palestinian militants stated on Friday that they had delivered the correct remains to the Red Cross for proper identification, which were then sent to Israel for confirmation. Early Saturday, it was reported that the identification of the remains had been successfully completed.

Despite the mounting outrage over the handling of the remains, both Israel and Hamas are proceeding with a planned exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees, which is set to take place as part of the ceasefire agreement.