Armed Palestinian carry one of the four coffins during the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa via Reuters Connect

Argentina has declared two days of national mourning for the brothers Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the two young children with dual Israeli-Argentine citizenship whose dead bodies were returned to Israel on Thursday by Hamas terrorists who kidnapped them a year and a half ago.

Also returned to Israel on Thursday was a dead body that Hamas claimed belonged to their mother, Shiri Bibas, 32. It was revealed later on Thursday by the Israel Defense Forces that the received body “is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body.” The body of deceased Hamas hostage and Israeli citizen Oded Lifshitz, 84, was also returned to Israel on Thursday.

Ariel was 4 years old and Kfir was 10 months old at their time of death, according to the IDF. They are Argentinian by way of their father, Yarden Bibas, who was also abducted during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, before being freed earlier this month as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Kfir was abducted when he was 9 months old, making him the youngest hostage kidnapped by terrorists from Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre and the youngest to have been killed.

“I am informed by the government that they will wait for official information on the DNA results of the bodies and that, if confirmed, Argentina will then declare a National Day of Mourning in their honor, ” Sabrina Ajmeche, president of the Argentine Commission for Human Rights, said Wednesday on X.

In a separate post announcing Argentine President Javier Milei’s decision to declare a day of national mourning for the Bibas children, she said, “Thank you, President, for your commitment to democracy, to freedom, to Western values ​​and to the fight against terrorism.”

“Kfir and Ariel were both Argentine citizens,” she added. “Two Argentine babies killed by Hamas terrorism. I hope that after this I never have to hear again that what happens in Israel and Gaza is not our business, or that of all Argentines.”

Milei, who won Argentina’s November 2023 presidential election, has publicly spoken about his support for Israel and Judaism, both of which were central components in his presidential campaign. During his visit to the Jewish state in February 2024 – his first international trip since taking office – he visited Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Negev, where the Bibas family and Lifshitz were abducted. Nearly 25 percent of Nir Oz’s residents were either murdered or kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre orchestrated by Hamas. Milei said at the time that he was traveling to Israel to “express my support against the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas.” Milei is also working to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization in Argentina.

The 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, where 85 people were killed and more than 300 wounded, was the deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s history.

Thursday marked the first time that the Hamas terrorist organization has released the remains of dead hostages since its attack on Israel in October 2023. Lifshitz was married for 63 years, a father of four, journalist, and peace activist for six decades. He helped found Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he was abducted from his home on Oct. 7, 2023, along with his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz. She was released by Hamas on Oct. 24, 2023.

Shiri, Yarden, and their two children were also kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yarden was released by Hamas on Feb. 1, and was one of the 19 living Israeli hostages freed so far as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that took effect on Jan. 19. Kfir and Ariel’s grandparents, Margit and Yosi, were also murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as the Bibas family dog.

The Lifshitz family released a statement on Thursday following confirmation of Oded’s death.

“We received with deep sorrow the official and bitter news confirming the identification of our beloved Oded’s body,” they said. “503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end. We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome. Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since Oct. 7. Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned.”