Shiri Bibas, an Israeli woman, and her two young children, Ariel and Kfir, were said to be among those returned. A senior U.N. official called the Hamas display “abhorrent and cruel.”

Hamas originally claimed in November 2023 the three members of the Bibas family had been killed in an Israeli air strike, without providing evidence. The BBC hasn't been able to independently verify this. Israel says it will not confirm their deaths before forensic testing.

Children and brothers Kfir and Ariel Bibas, symbols of the worst assault on Jews since the Holocaust, were kidnapped along with their mother by Hamas.