Transcript of Anguish in Israel as Hamas return hostages’ bodies, including mother and two children | BBC News

Yet there was an outpouring of grief as the bodies of four dead hostages taken by Hamas were returned to Tel Aviv. They're believed to be a mother and her two young children and a peace activist in his 80s, taken alive during the October the seventh attacks in 2023. Israel's President, Herzog, said the hearts of an entire nation lie in tatters. Paul Adams has more from Tel Aviv.

It was the day all Israelis, hoped against hope would never happen. The return of dead.

The Red Cross publicly asked Hamas not to put on a show, tried as much as possible to add a little dignity.

But Hamas has its own agenda, making it easier for Israelis to watch is not part of it. Sixteen months on from October the seventh, it all came surging back. This was the moment Hamas gunmen forced their way into the Biba's house. A mother's terror as she sought to protect her young sons, one of that day's most searing images. Hamas, says Shiri, her boys, Kifeir and Ariel, and and peace campaigner, Oded Lipschitz, were all killed by Israeli bombs. The truth of that claim may never be known. Israel now says Mr. Lipschitz was murdered. Back on Israeli soil, a solemn convoy as the bodies were brought to Tel Aviv for formal identification. In Hostages Square, where these moments are seen and digested, a wave of grief. The Biba's family have come to symbolize the hopes and fears of a nation.

People have been holding their breath for 502 days, and we've all seen the video of Shri Biba and her two sons being taken away. I think many of us have been trying to bury that, and now we can't.

In two days time, the mood here in Hostages Square will change again as the country prepares to welcome home another six living hostages. But the trauma of October the seventh has not faded away, and days like today, to bring it back into sharp, painful focus.

Back in the wastelands of Gaza, they're also looking for bodies. Seventy-two people were killed by an airstrike on this building exactly a year ago. It's been too dangerous to come and search before now. My two sisters are here, Mustafa says, and my niece and two of my cousins. Five floors came down, one on top of the other. We haven't been able to get anyone out. We just want to bury them. This war's trail of death and suffering is hard to comprehend. They can lay the dead to rest, but the war still isn't over. The grief is endless. Paul Adams, BBC News, Tel Aviv.