Zein Khalil and Betul Yilmaz
23 February 2025•Update: 24 February 2025
JERUSALEM, Palestine
The family of returned slain hostage Shiri Bibas has rejected the attendance of any Israeli government officials at the funeral of hers and her two children, according to Israeli media on Sunday.
Palestinian group Hamas returned the remains of Shiri and her two children this week under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel.
Hamas said the Bibas family was killed in indiscriminate Israeli bombardment amid Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli news website Walla, the Bibas family told the government that they don’t want any government representative present at the funeral.
Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel will represent the government at the funeral of returned slain captive Oded Lifshitz, which will be held on Tuesday.
On Friday, the Bibas family accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning the hostages during the Gaza war and failing to return them alive.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said on Saturday that the Bibas family had not received any official information from the government regarding the circumstances of their killing.
The Gaza ceasefire deal took effect last month, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,300 victims, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
