US envoy: Hamas to face total annihilation unless it returns all Israeli hostages

US president’s envoy Adam Beller has issued a stark warning to the radical Palestinian group Hamas, stating that the group will face destruction unless it returns all Israeli hostages taken in 2023.

He emphasised that Hamas must immediately act or face severe consequences, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Beller stated that if he were in Hamas' position, he would release all the hostages, warning that otherwise, they would face total annihilation. He also advised Hamas to immediately return the body of Shiri Bibas.

The comments followed a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who condemned Hamas for returning the wrong body. Instead of the remains of Shiri Bibas, an Israeli hostage, Hamas handed over the body of an unidentified woman from Gaza. 

Netanyahu called the action a violation of the ceasefire agreement and a cowardly act.

Hamas announced on February 20 that it had released the bodies of four hostages, including a mother and her two sons. However, Israel's military reported that one of the bodies was not that of Shiri Bibas, as claimed by Hamas, calling the situation a "violation of utmost severity." Hamas had stated it returned the bodies of four hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her sons, Ariel and Kfir. 

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) later confirmed that the bodies of Ariel and Kfir were correctly identified, but the third body did not belong to Shiri or any other known hostage. The IDF described the third body as "anonymous" and "unidentified," and they informed the family, including Shiri's husband Yarden Bibas, who had been released earlier as part of a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

By Naila Huseynova