JERUSALEM: An autopsy conducted on the remains of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young boys after they were handed over by Hamas militants found “no evidence of injuries caused by a bombing,” a top forensic expert said Saturday.
“We have identified the remains of Shiri Bibas, two days after identifying her children, Ariel and Kfir. Our examination found no evidence of injuries caused by (a) bombing,” Chen Kugel, director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine said in a video statement.
Shiri Bibas and her sons were seized by militants on October 7, 2023 during the attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Shiri’s husband and the father of the two boys, Yarden Bibas, had also been abducted but was released alive earlier this month.
Since their abduction, Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel who was then aged four, and Kfir, then only nine months, had become symbols of Israel’s hostage ordeal.
On Thursday, Hamas handed over four bodies, saying they were of Shiri Bibas, her two young sons, and an elderly hostage.
While the remains of her two sons and the elderly hostage were identified positively, Israeli authorities said the fourth body was not that of Shiri Bibas, sparking anger and grief across the country.
But on Friday, Hamas — which blamed a possible “mix-up” of bodies — handed over new remains to the Red Cross, which were later identified to be that of Shiri Bibas.
Hamas has long insisted that an Israeli air strike killed Bibas and her sons early in the war.
However, the Israeli military asserts instead that they were killed by militants and even said that the two children were killed in “cold blood.”
“Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement on Friday.
“Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities,” he added.
The Bibas family described the deaths of the three hostages as murder, but asked that the manner of the death not be shared publicly.
“The family has not received any such details from official sources,” it said in a statement earlier on Saturday.
“The family requests to cease adding details regarding the fact that Shiri and the children were murdered by their captors.
“Yarden and the family want the world to know this was murder, without delving into any specifics,” it said.
On Saturday, Hamas reiterated that the Bibas family was not killed in captivity in Gaza.
“The false allegations that the criminal (Israeli) occupation is disseminating about the death of the Bibas children at the hands of their captors are merely baseless lies and fabrications,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.
Autopsy on Bibas hostages shows ‘no evidence of injuries by bombing’: expert
https://arab.news/898aj
Autopsy on Bibas hostages shows ‘no evidence of injuries by bombing’: expert
- Hamas has long insisted that an Israeli air strike killed Bibas and her sons early in the war
Lebanese finance minister denies any plans for a Kushner-run economic zone in the south
- Proposal was made by US Envoy Morgan Ortagus but was ‘killed on the spot’
- Priority is to regain control of state in all aspects, Yassine Jaber tells Arab News
DAVOS: Lebanon’s finance minister dismissed any plans of turning Lebanon’s battered southern region into an economic zone, telling Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos that the proposal had died “on the spot.”
Yassine Jaber explained that US Envoy to Lebanon Morgan Ortagus had proposed the idea last december for the region, which has faced daily airstrikes by Israel, and it was immediately dismissed.
Jaber’s comments, made to Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, were in response to reports which appeared in Lebanese media in December which suggested that parts of southern Lebanon would be turned into an economic zone, managed by a plan proposed by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son in law.
Meanwhile, Jaber also dismissed information which had surfaced in Davos over the past two days of a bilateral meeting between Lebanese ministers, US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and Kushner.
Jaber said that the meeting on Tuesday was a gathering of “all Arab ministers of finance and foreign affairs, where they (Witkoff and Kushner) came in for a small while, and explained to the audience the idea about deciding the board of peace for Gaza.”
He stressed that it did not develop beyond that.
When asked about attracting investment and boosting the economy, Jaber said: “The reality now is that we need to reach the situation where there is stability that will allow the Lebanese army, so the (Israeli) aggression has to stop.”
Over the past few years, Lebanon has witnessed one catastrophe after another: one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns, the largest non-nuclear explosion in its capital’s port, a paralyzed parliament and a war with Israel.
A formal mechanism was put in place between Lebanon and Israel to maintain a ceasefire and the plan to disarm Hezbollah in areas below the Litani river.
But, the minister said, Israel’s next step is not always so predictable.
“They’re actually putting pressure on the whole region. So, a lot of effort is being put on that issue,” he added.
“There are still attacks in the south of the country also, so stability is a top necessity that will really succeed in pushing the economy forward and making the reforms beneficial,” he said.
Lawmakers had also enacted reforms to overhaul the banking sector, curb the cash economy and abolish bank secrecy, alongside a bank resolution framework.
Jaber also stressed that the government had recently passed a “gap law” intended to help depositors recover funds and restore the banking system’s functionality.
“One of the priorities we have is really to deal with all the losses of the war, basically reconstruction … and we have started to get loans for reconstructing the destroyed infrastructure in the attacked areas.”
As Hezbollah was battered during the war, Lebanon had a political breakthrough as the army’s general, Joseph Aoun, was inaugurated as president. His chosen prime minister was the former president of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam.
This year marks the first time a solid delegation from the country makes its way to Davos, with Salam being joined by Jaber, Economy and Trade Minister Amr Bisat, and Telecoms Minister Charles Al-Hage.
“Our priority is to really regain the role of the state in all aspects, and specifically in rebuilding the institutions,” Jaber said.
