The shock announcement regarding the mother, Shiri Bibas, came as a ceasefire that’s paused the fighting in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip remains shaky.

Hamas has handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to symbolize the nation's agony following the Oct.

Hamas fighters handed over four black coffins to the Red Cross in Khan Younis on Feb. 20, where crowds had gathered in the rain to watch the ceremony.

"The hearts of an entire nation lie in tatters," Israel's President Isaac Herzog has said, as the bodies of four hostages taken alive by Hamas in its attack on 7 October 2023 were returned to Tel Aviv.