More than 500 days after their abduction, the remains of Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas, along with Oded Lifshitz, were recovered. Hamas has continued its disrespectful treatment of the hostages.

A widely condemned ceremony displayed coffins said to contain the remains of the four murdered Israeli hostages. The coffins were placed on a stage in front of a caricature and a banner that accused “war criminal Netanyahu & his Nazi army” of killing them with missiles.

The coffin labeled as Shiri Bibas’ featured a photo of her next to the words “arrest date” and the date of the Oct. 7 attacks. As of now, Israel has only confirmed Lifshitz’s identity.

The United Nations Geneva quoted High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, stating, “Under international law, any handover of the remains of [the] deceased must comply with the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, ensuring respect for the dignity of the deceased and their families.”

Many criticized Türk’s condemnation of the Hamas ceremony as insufficient, pointing to the U.N.’s hesitation to explicitly condemn the terror group.

Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon stated that “Hamas parading four coffins onstage to music is evil and depraved.”

He added, “For 16 months, Israel has been fighting a deranged terrorist organization that places no value on human life, especially if it is Israeli or Jewish— all while international institutions like the UN refrained from condemning Hamas and formally demanding the immediate return of .”

Following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Türk issued a statement seemingly equating Hamas’ actions with Israel’s response, expressing he was “shocked and appalled” by the violence and condemning Israel’s retaliation.

Anne Bayefsky, Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and President and Human Rights Voice, accused Türk of being “one of the leading drivers of Palestinian terrorism and in the world today.”

Bayefsky stated that Türk “personifies the use and abuse of ‘human rights’ as a front to perpetrate evil” and has “blood on his hands,” further calling him a “human rights fraud” with more concern for dead Jews than saving living ones from “Palestinian savagery.”

UN Watch, a United Nations watchdog organization, called for Türk’s resignation in its December 2024 report, highlighting that the human rights commissioner condemned the U.S. more than China, North Korea, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar combined. The organization also accused Türk of disproportionate focus on Israel.

The report stated that “Türk was obsessed with condemning Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, making 58 condemnations during the past two years, with 49 on the Hamas-Israel war,” and that “over the same two years, the Maduro regime in Venezuela was criticized only 4 times.”

After the Oct. 7 attacks, Shiri Bibas and her sons, Kfir and Ariel, became symbols of Hamas’ brutality, with the image of the terrified mother and her children spreading worldwide. Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the father of Kfir and Ariel, was held separately and released from Gaza on Feb. 1.

Besides the remains of the Bibas family and Lifshitz, Israel is set to receive six living hostages on Saturday as part of the ongoing ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Digital has reached out to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights but hasn’t received a response as of publication.