An Israeli security official confirmed that Hamas handed the hostages' bodies to the Red Cross. Israel said the caskets were delivered with the help of Egyptian mediators through an Israeli crossing and an identification process had begun.
In a statement, Netanyahu said: "Today is a tragic day. It's a day of boundless sorrow, of indescribable pain. Four-year-old Ariel Bibas, his baby brother, one-year-old Kfir and 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz were brutally murdered by Hamas savages. Their bodies return home to a nation in mourning. A nation that will never forget and never forgive the evil that cut down these beautiful souls."
A Pakistani national from Ontario wanted in the U.S. on terror-related charges for allegedly targeting Jewish institutions in New York City has agreed to be extradited. During a brief Superior Court hearing today in Montreal, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, consented to being sent to the U.S. to stand trial.
The handover, part of the ceasefire agreement that has paused the fighting in Gaza, will include the bodies of a mother and her two young children whose fate was uncertain and a retired journalist in his 80s, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Launched on Jan. 5, the city’s system uses license plate readers to impose a $9 toll on most vehicles entering Manhattan neighborhoods south of Central Park. In its early days, transit officials said the toll has brought modest but measurable traffic reductions.
Israel has carried out a series of airstrikes, targeting several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, media reported. Israeli warplanes launched multiple raids on the heights of the eastern Mountain Range and an area in the Baalbek district of eastern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported, adding Israel also launched several airstrikes on targets in southern Lebanon at around 10:35 p.m. local time on Thursday.
