As throngs of Hamas militants and their Gazan allies celebrated over the caskets of four dead Israelis, including two children and their mother, an NPR reporter described the scene as "much more somber and much less celebratory on both sides."
The taxpayer-funded outlet's Tel Aviv-based correspondent, Kat Lonsdorf, gave the description after interviewer Michel Martin noted that Thursday marked "the first time that Hamas has handed over bodies during this war" and asked Lonsdorf to describe the "scene."
"Yeah, it was definitely much more somber and much less celebratory on both sides," Lonsdorf responded.
While that was true in Israel, where mourning citizens quietly gathered together, NPR’s description of the scene in Gaza differed drastically from what unfolded on the ground. Inside the war-torn strip, Hamas terrorists paraded the coffins of two dead children, their mother, and an 83-year-old man through the streets of Gaza before mobs of cheering Palestinians.
Hamas displayed the caskets on a makeshift stage in front of an anti-Semitic sign depicting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a bloodthirsty vampire snarling above a photo of the murdered captives. Hamas said it had placed inside the coffins Shiri Bibas, 32; her two children, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir; and 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz. Hamas kidnapped them during the terror group's Oct. 7 terror rampage through Israel.
Before being returned to Israel, the International Committee of the Red Cross dispatched one of its staffers to sit with a uniformed Hamas terrorist at a camouflage table and sign "paperwork." The coffins were then transported through Gaza as hordes of Palestinians cheered and chanted "victory" in Arabic.
When the coffins reached Israeli soil, they were scanned for bombs and booby traps and then opened for examination to confirm the identities of those inside. After assessing the bodies turned over by Hamas, Israel determined that Shiri Bibas's remains were replaced with a presently "unidentified body." While her children, Ariel and Kfir, were positively identified—along with the 83-year-old Lifshitz—Shiri's body was not among those recovered.
Hamas locked the caskets shut but did not provide keys to Israel, forcing authorities to smash the locks open.
Update 9:20 p.m.: This piece has been updated with additional information.