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Hamas Hands Over Bodies of Youngest Gaza Hostages Taken From Israel

Palestinian terrorists and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, seized during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

Hamas handed over the bodies on Thursday of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day.

Red Cross vehicles drove away from the handover site in the Gaza Strip with four black coffins that had been placed on a stage. Each of the caskets had a small picture of the hostages.

Armed Hamas terrorists in black and camouflage uniforms surrounded the area.

After the hostages were handed over by the Red Cross, the coffins were scanned for explosives, according to the military. The coffins of the four deceased hostages have been transported into Israel, the Israeli military said.

Hamas handed over the bodies of the two boys and their mother Shiri Bibas, along with that of a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, under the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.

“Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,” said Israel‘s President Isaac Herzog.

“On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense establishment have faced criticism over the major security breach on Oct. 7, the country’s single deadliest day.

One terrorist stood beside a poster of a man standing over coffins wrapped in Israeli flags. Instead of legs he had tree roots in the ground, suggesting the land belongs to Palestinians. The poster read “The Return of the War=The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins.”

Kfir Bibas was nine months old when the Bibas family, including their father Yarden, was abducted at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of a string of communities near Gaza that were overrun by Hamas-led attackers from Gaza.

Hamas said in November 2023 that the boys and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but their deaths were never confirmed by Israeli authorities and even at the last minute, some refused to accept they were dead.

“Shiri and the kids became a symbol,” said Yiftach Cohen, a resident of Nir Oz, which lost around a quarter of its inhabitants, either killed or kidnapped, during the assault. “I still hope that they will be alive.”

Yarden Bibas was returned in an earlier exchange of hostages for prisoners this month. But the family said this week their “journey is not over” until they received final confirmation of what happened to the boys and their mother.

Some of those Israelis killed on Oct. 7 were known peace activists.

Lifshitz was 83 when he was abducted from Nir Oz, the kibbutz he helped found. His wife, Yocheved, 85 at the time, was seized with him and released two weeks later, along with another elderly woman.

He was a former journalist. In an op-ed he published in left-leaning Haaretz in Jan. 2019, titled “Defender of Israel He Is Not,” he questioned Netanyahu’s security credentials and criticized his policies, including on Hamas and Gaza.

Among what he listed as Netanyahu’s policy failures, Lifshitz noted his rejection of the two-state solution with the Palestinians and a 2011 deal that exchanged more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including hardliner Yahya Sinwar who would become Hamas’s leader in Gaza and the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, for one abducted Israeli soldier.

Israeli forces killed Sinwar during the Gaza war.

The handover marks the first return of dead bodies during the current agreement and Israel is not expected to confirm their identities until full DNA checks have been completed.

Netanyahu has faced criticism from his far-right coalition allies for agreeing to the deal, which some in Israel feel rewards Hamas and leaves the Palestinian terrorist group in place in Gaza.

But successive surveys have shown broad support among the public for the ceasefire.

Israel launched its war in the Gaza Strip after Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 hostages. The Israeli military campaign aimed to free those who were abducted and dismantle Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

LIVING HOSTAGES

Thursday’s handover of bodies will be followed by the return of six living hostages on Saturday, in exchange for hundreds more Palestinians, expected to be women and minors detained by Israeli forces in Gaza during the war.

So far 19 Israeli hostages have been released, as well as five Thais who were returned in an unscheduled handover.

Negotiations for a second phase, expected to cover the return of around 60 remaining hostages, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip to allow an end to the war, are expected to begin in the coming days.

The issue has also been clouded by US President Donald Trump’s call for Palestinians to be resettled outside Gaza, a move critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing, and for the enclave to be developed as a regional economic hub under US control.

The post Hamas Hands Over Bodies of Youngest Gaza Hostages Taken From Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Hamas Leader Calls Trump’s Gaza Plan ‘Bulls—,’ Vows Palestinians Will Not Depart ‘Homeland’

Palestinian terrorists and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, seized during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

Members of the Hamas terrorist group lambasted US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to remove Palestinian civilians from the Gaza strip as a “bull— plan.” 

The remarks were made during what appears to be a rally in the Khan Yunis town of southern Gaza celebrating the transfer of the bodies of four hostages—Ariel Bibas, Kfir Bibas, Shiri Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz—back to Israel after they had been murdered by Hamas. In the video, a large crowd was circled around a dirt pit, attentively listening to a leader of the terrorist group both criticized Trump as an “unleashed bull” and promise that future generations of Palestinians would continue fighting against Israel. 

Hamas erected a large banner depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a blood-drenched vampire superimposed on pictures of the Bibas family and Lifshitz. Thousands of Palestinian civilians assembled to partake in the event, shouting chants of victory. 

“Do you really think that boy that attacked a tank barefooted with his bayonet and IED will leave his homeland because of fear?” the terrorist member said, “What do you think might frighten us? We’ve made very good friends with death lately.”

The Hamas member warned Trump to “think twice” about his proposal to vacate Gaza civilians from the war-torn strip, arguing that the terrorist group is capable of “delivering” death to its opponents. 

“The war criminal Netanyahu & his Nazi Army killed them with missiles from Zionist warplanes,” the banner read. 

Earlier this month, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the White House, held a press conference following their private meeting in the Oval Office. Trump asserted that the US would assume control of Gaza and develop it economically into “the Riviera of the Middle East” after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”

Trump has also referred to Gaza as a “demolition site” and said its residents have “no alternative” but to leave, suggesting Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states as possible relocation sites. 

Trump has called for Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states in the region to take in Palestinians from Gaza. Thus far, every state in the region has refused to absorb Palestinian migrants from Gaza. 

 

The post Hamas Leader Calls Trump’s Gaza Plan ‘Bulls—,’ Vows Palestinians Will Not Depart ‘Homeland’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘Chaos’: Students for Justice in Palestine Forced to Abandon Building Occupation at Swarthmore College

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) members during its illegal occupation of Parrish Hall on February 19, 2025. Photo: Screenshot/X

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania led a failed takeover of an administrative building that it was forced to abandon after just 11 hours, according to a recent report by The Phoenix, the school’s campus daily.

“Chaos and uncertainty ruled campus yesterday,” wrote staff writers Daniel Perrin and Ella Walker on Thursday, describing the welter of events which saw SJP occupy the Parrish Hall administrative building and security officials launch a frenetic operation to boot them out.

While SJP had announced an “emergency rally” scheduled for noon that day, there was little indication that it planned on commandeering the building and remaining inside of it indefinitely, according to the report in The Phoenix.

“Swarthmore students hold sit-in to demand accountability for political repression and complicity in genocide,” SJP said in a statement after revealing its intentions. “We will not rest until Swarthmore College divests from the genocidal Zionist entity and drops all charges against our peers. Free Palestine and long live the student intifada.”

Inside, the students dressed like Hamas fighters, wrapping their faces with keffiyeh in a style coined by the group’s members to avoid being identified as terrorists.

SJP members left the building before the 11pm deadline set by the College. Administrators told The Phoenix that they “do not expect to issue interim suspensions.”

Occupying campus property to protest Israel and Zionism is now an old phenomenon. Thousands of students did so during the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic year, precipitating an epidemic of antisemitic hate crime assaults, property destruction, and hate speech which cost several university presidents their jobs. So-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” which sprung in campuses across the United States last year caught university administrators off guard, and they hesitated to discipline protesters who openly violated school rules, creating an impression that rule-breaking was acceptable so long as the students doing it were promoting left-wing viewpoints.

Swarthmore resolved on Wednesday not to make a similar mistake, The Phoenix reported. No sooner had the students captured the building than security officials moved to lock it down to prevent both SJP’s being joined by more students and receiving supplies such as food and water that would sustain and ultimately prolong the demonstration. But it was many hours before Swarthmore’s vice president of student affairs Stephanie Ives sent SJP a letter warning the group that its members were risking being placed on interim suspensions that would carry a ban from campus, as well as their losing “all academic privileges.”

By that time, the students had unleashed a barrage of misconduct, shouting slogans through bullhorns, attempting to break into offices that had been locked to keep them out, and pounding the doors of others that refused to admit them access. Meanwhile, SJP collaborators circumvented security’s lockdown of the building to smuggle food inside. Several students then grew impatient and attempted to end the lockdown themselves by raiding the building, and in doing so caused a physical altercation with security, whom they proceeded to pelt with expletives and other imprecations spoken in the style of inner-city vernacular.

“What the f— is your problem!?” a female student, captured in video shared by The Phoenix, can be heard screaming at an official who used his body to block a protester from forcing his way inside. “B—ch! F—ck you! Stop f—ing touching people bruh!”

In a letter to Swarthmore SJP, Ives said that the group’s activities, which it heavily promoted on social media, had drawn the attention of the local Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office.

“Your actions, and the promotion of them on social media, have triggered a range of responses from within and beyond the community, including local and federal law enforcement agencies,” she wrote. “We have already identified several individuals involved in today’s actions. Those individuals, along with others we identify moving forward, will face interim suspension if the occupation does not end by 11 p.m. tonight.”

In a statement later issued to The Phoenix, Swarthmore College said, “The FBI contacted us based on the nature and volume of social media posts by Swarthmore SJP, along with other regional and national SJP and other accounts, calling for people from outside the campus community to come to Swarthmore and participate in the occupation.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post ‘Chaos’: Students for Justice in Palestine Forced to Abandon Building Occupation at Swarthmore College first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Jewish Man Violently Attacked in England, Assailant Reportedly Said He Was ‘Responsible for Gaza War’

A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect

A visibly Jewish man in England was brutally attacked after attending a prayer service, leaving him fearing for his eyesight, in what local police are investigating as a hate crime.

The attack took place on Feb. 3 in Manchester City Center around 1:30 om. As the victim was walking home, he was approached from behind and struck in the face with a hard glass object, shattering his glasses and leaving him covered in blood.

“I thought I could have been blinded in my right eye,” the victim told the Manchester Evening News.

“In the split second before, I gripped my phone tightly in case someone tried to grab it and did not have a chance to protect myself,” he recalled. “I was then hit extremely forcefully with what felt like a bottle around the right side of my face, instantly shattering my glasses and knocking me off balance.”

After being examined by paramedics, the victim said he suffered bruising around his eye and cuts to his upper cheek and side of his face, adding that he still experiences black dots in his vision.

A bystander who witnessed the attack said he heard the attacker shout “murderer” at the victim and accuse him of being “responsible for the war in Gaza.”

“I’m apprehensive walking around and now get nervous anyone could attack me at any time,” the victim said. “I remain very traumatized by what happened.”

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that an investigation was ongoing, but two weeks after the attack, no arrests had been made. Meanwhile, the British charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has offered a £5,000 (around $6,300 US dollars) reward for information about the suspect leading to a conviction.

“This victim’s testimony is horrific. At a time of surging antisemitism, incidents like these are becoming far too common, and those responsible must be held to account,” a spokesperson for CAA said in a statement.

The incident came amid an ongoing surge in antisemitic crimes across the United Kingdom since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

Last week, the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, released data showing the UK experienced its second worst year for antisemitism in 2024, despite recording an 18 percent drop in antisemitic incidents from the previous year’s all-time high

Specifically, CST 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, a drop from the 4,296 in 2023. These numbers compare to 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, 2,261 in 2021, and 1,684 in 2020.

In Greater Manchester, home to the largest Jewish community outside London, 480 cases were reported last year.

In a joint statement addressing the rise in antisemitic incidents, a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police and CST said, “Everyone should feel safe and welcome when visiting our city-region.”

“Hate crimes in Greater Manchester will not be tolerated, and we will always endeavor to take action against those responsible for this type of offence to keep our communities safe,” they added.

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the war in Gaza when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

Last month, both sides reached a ceasefire and hostage-release deal brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar. Under phase one, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, in exchange for Israel freeing over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences for terrorism-related offenses.

Talks for a second phase are set to begin in the coming days, focusing on the release of around 60 remaining hostages, about half of whom are believed to be dead, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

The post Jewish Man Violently Attacked in England, Assailant Reportedly Said He Was ‘Responsible for Gaza War’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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