Israel braced on Thursday for the return of the bodies of infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day.

Members of the Bibas family — a mother and her two children, who were 4 years and 8½ months old when they were taken — are expected in the release.

The militant Palestinian group Hamas plans to hand over on Thursday the mortal remains of four people abducted from Israel to the Gaza Strip in 2023. Israel plans to verify their identities afterwards.