Chief Rabbi speaks of Hamas’ ‘three layers of evil’ in emotional statement after release of hostage bodies
Ephraim Mirvis denounces terror organisation for trading the remains claimed to be of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz, for prisoners serving life sentences for murder
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis declared that “all decent people around the world mourn with Israel” after the Jewish state received the remains of four hostages, believed to be Shiri Bibas, her young children Kfir and Ariel and Oded Lifshitz.
Red Cross vehicles collected the coffins of the fallen after a sickening “ceremony” held by Hamas in Bani Suheila, a suburb of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
After being transferred to the IDF and checked for booby-traps, the caskets are now being driven across Israel, its roads lined with silent, flag-bearing Israelis, en route to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabi for official identification.
Writing to Twitter/X, the Chief Rabbi said: “It is pure evil to take a mother and her young children and an elderly man hostage. It takes another layer of evil to be responsible for their deaths. And yet a further layer of evil to trade their bodies to release hundreds of prisoners including terrorists serving life sentences for murder. This is what Israel is up against.
“Today, all decent people around the world mourn with Israel, Kibbutz Nir Oz, and the Bibas and Lifshitz families. With broken hearts, we pray for the return of all the hostages and a just and lasting peace. עם ישראל חי!”
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