(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Israeli government vowed Thursday to “settle the score” with Hamas after the terrorist organization held a parade displaying the coffins of several hostages killed following the Oct. 7 attack.
Among the coffins paraded by Hamas were those of the Bibas family, including 9-month-old Kfir and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel. The body Hamas claimed belonged to the children’s mother, Shiri, was later identified as that of an unknown woman.
The remains of Oded Lifshitz, an octogenarian grandfather, were also returned to Israel more than a year after Hamas invaded southern Israel in 2023. Approximately 1,200 individuals lost their lives that day.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu minced no words in his response to the atrocities Hamas inflicted on the Bibas and Lifshitz families before killing them in November 2023, declaring he was “outraged at the Hamas monsters.”
“The voice of our dear ones’ blood cries out to us from the ground,” Netanyahu said via X, as quite by the New York Post. “It requires us to settle accounts with the depraved murderers – and we will settle the score with them.”
Israeli Defense Minister Katz also rebuked the parade, warning, “Hamas abducted, Hamas murdered, Hamas will be destroyed. We will take revenge against our enemies, and secure our future.”
Our hearts break as four hostages murdered by Hamas return to Israel: Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel.
It is beyond comprehension that anyone could take the lives of these innocent people—a peace activist, and a young mother and her babies.… pic.twitter.com/YF96z2KBdA
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) February 20, 2025
Video footage from the parade sparked widespread outrage as it showed Palestinians blasting music, cheering and almost dancing while Hamas terrorists carried the caskets containing the remains of the hostages.
The coffins were displayed on a podium featuring images of the deceased, which Hamas had taken from posters advocating for the hostages’ release. The stage also displayed an anti-Semitic image of Netanyahu with vampire teeth.
“The war criminal Netanyahu and his nazi army killed them with missiles from Zionist warplanes,” read a banner, blaming Israel for the hostages’ death.
The grotesque display even drew rare condemnation from the most influential Islamic leader in Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh.
“What we saw today in Gaza is a disgrace to Islam, an act of blasphemy against Allah, and a sin that does not represent the followers of the Prophet, peace be upon him, or the honorable religion of Islam,” Al-Sheikh said. “The path of Islam includes respect even for non-Muslim dead.”
This is Gaza pic.twitter.com/xt41kYEThD
— GAZAWOOD – the PALLYWOOD saga (@GAZAWOOD1) February 20, 2025
The hostage release is part of a purported long-term ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, though the war has not formally ended. Oct. 7, 2023, marked the deadliest day for Jewish individuals since the Holocaust.
Here is the original video posted by Palestinians to their social media on October 7 that shows the kidnapping of the Bibas family (towards the end of the video).
Not a single Hamas member among them. All Gaza civilians.pic.twitter.com/lTEuRyCVkQ
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) February 20, 2025
