Hamas says it has proposed handing over the bodies of a baby, his brother and his mother to extend the ceasefire

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said Friday it has offered to hand over the bodies of a hostage family – a mother, her baby and her brother – during negotiations to extend the ceasefire with Israel.

Mother Shiri Bibas, baby Kfir, 10 months old, brother Ariel, four years old, and father, Yarden, became a symbol of the attacks that Hamas carried out on Israeli territory on October 7, because of the children’s ages.

Early this week, Hamas’ armed wing announced that Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas were killed in an Israeli bombardment before the ceasefire came into effect, which expired this Friday.

The Israeli military, for its part, said it was investigating the information and there was still no confirmation.

Fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, following the failure of negotiations to extend the temporary ceasefire that began seven days ago.

“Indirect negotiations took place during the night to extend the ceasefire,” the Islamist movement said in a statement on Friday.

“Hamas also offered to hand over the bodies of the Bibas family and release the father for burial, along with two Zionist prisoners,” the group said, ensuring that Israeli authorities “remained indifferent” to the proposal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told AFP that “Israel will not address Hamas’s propaganda reports.”

Earlier, the Israeli army had indicated that “responsibility for the safety of all hostages in the Gaza Strip lies with Hamas.”

Government spokesman Eylon Levy on Friday blamed Hamas for the failure of negotiations to extend the ceasefire, accusing the Islamists of “failing to provide a list of additional hostages to release.”

As a result of the ceasefire, Hamas released dozens of Israeli hostages and Israel released more than 200 Palestinian prisoners.

According to the Hebrew state, Hamas is still holding 137 hostages kidnapped since the Oct. 7 attack in which Israel says 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed and nearly 240 kidnapped.

In retaliation, Israel launched a campaign of air and ground attacks on Gaza, killing more than 15,000 people, most of them civilians, according to Hamas.