Blaming Netanyahu for captives’ deaths, Hamas uses coffins for victory celebration

Hamas uses coffins of dead captives for anti-Israel display during ceremony marking the handing over of the remains of four Israeli hostages – while accusing the IDF of killing them.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas terror organization held a victory celebration in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis Thursday morning, putting the coffins of four Israeli hostages on display before they were handed over to Israel as part of the hostage deal.

At 9:40 a.m., Hamas transferred the remains of Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her sons Ariel and Kfir to the International Red Cross, which handed the bodies over to an IDF force.

Prior to the handover, however, Hamas displayed the coffins of the four slain hostages on a stage set up on an abandoned cemetery in Khan Yunis, as part of a ceremony and photo op during which Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the United States were denounced and blamed for the deaths of the four hostages.

Masked Hamas terrorists met with International Red Cross officials on the stage, signing off papers certifying the transfer of the hostages’ remains.

The coffins of the four victims were displayed underneath a massive sign portraying Netanyahu as a vampire.

“The War Criminal Netanyahu & His Nazi Army Killed Them with Missiles from Zionist Warplanes,” the sign read.

Mock missiles and rockets set up around the stage carried messages blaming the U.S. for the hostages’ deaths, such as, “They were killed by USA bombs.”

Underneath photographs of the hostages, Hamas wrote “The Killer,” above a photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, along with the date 11-2023, implying the hostages were killed in November 2023.

During the victory ceremony in Khan Yunis, thousands of Gazans gathered and cheered as Hamas displayed the coffins of the slain hostages, clapping and whistling as organizers played celebratory music.

Terrorists present at the event brandished weapons, including machine guns, grenades, anti-personnel mines, and even missiles.

Mohammed Abu Warda, a Hamas terrorist and convicted mass murderer, was among those in attendance at the ceremony.

Abu Warda, who was released as part of the hostage deal, was convicted of multiple counts of murder and sentenced to 48 consecutive life sentences for his role in a pair of suicide bomb attacks in the 1990s.