The mother of two young boys murdered by Hamas while in captivity was not among the bodies returned to Israel on Thursday and the terrorist group is claiming it was a mix-up.

Hamas officials reportedly said Friday that the remains of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas were “turned into pieces after apparently being mixed with other bodies under the rubble,” following an Israeli air strike that hit the place she was held in.

The bodies of Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas and Oded Lifshitz were returned to Israel more than 500 days after they were taken hostage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed. 

The Bibas family, from left: Yarden, Ariel, Shiri, and Kfir (Ofri Bibas Levy)

“During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage,” the IDF said. “This is an anonymous, unidentified body.”

Kfir Bibas, left, and Ofri Bibas Levy, right, smile together beneath a tree.

“According to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023,” authorities said. 

The Red Cross, which handled the transfer on Thursday, said it was “concerned and unsatisfied” by the way Hamas hostage release operations have taken place. 

“The ICRC does not participate in sorting, screening, or examining the deceased – this is the responsibility of the parties to the conflict”, it said in a statement on Friday, while expressing concern that the releases had not been conducted privately and in a dignified manner.

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano , Elizabeth Pritchett, Bradford Betz and Rachel Wolf and Reuters contributed to this report.