Hundreds watched on Thursday as four black coffins, which Hamas said held the remains of Israel's Bibas family and an elderly hostage, were carried off stage by Palestinian militants in southern Gaza.

The ceremony, held on a sandy area that was once a cemetery before its destruction by Israeli forces, marked the first handover of deceased captives under a fragile Israel-Hamas truce.

It began with a militant, his face wrapped in a red and white keffiyeh scarf, seated on the stage to complete paperwork with a Red Cross official. The stage featured a banner with an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a bloodied vampire over photos of the four returned Israelis.

"War Criminal Netanyahu and his army killed them with missiles and Zionist warplanes", read the sign.

The coffins -- which bore photos of the deceased as well as of Netanyahu -- were placed one by one into separate Red Cross vehicles after being covered in a white shroud as a cold drizzle........

© Al Monitor