Israel accused Hamas of a "violation of utmost severity" after failing to identify one of the bodies returned by the group on Thursday.

Hamas said it transferred the bodies of the Bibas family, claiming they were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war. The two young boys, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, were identified, with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) saying that the pathological examinations and intelligence suggest that the two were murdered in captivity in November 2023. However, the body that was believed to be of their mother, Shiri Bibas, was instead an "anonymous, unidentified" body that didn't match the DNA of any of the hostages, the IDF said.

"This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages," the IDF stressed in a post on X.