JERUSALEM, Israel – The nation of Israel is in mourning. The bodies of four kidnapped hostages from the October 7th massacre made their way from Gaza to Israel Thursday morning.

Today's exchange was widely regarded as the most heart-wrenching yet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reflected the soul of the country, saying Wednesday, “The heart of an entire nation is torn. My heart is torn. Yours too. And the heart of the whole world needs to break, because here, we see who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with: monsters. We grieve, we are in pain, but we are also determined to ensure that something like this does not happen again."

The International Red Cross brought the bodies from Hamas to the Israel Defense Forces who took them to Israel for forensic identification. It's expected the four bodies include Shiri Bibas and her four-year-old son Ariel, and nine-month-old son Kfir, along with 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz, one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which they were all captured.

CBN Israel's Nicole Jansezian observed, “It's so different from all the other hostage releases that we've had so far. You know, every time in the ceasefire, we've had about 5 or 6 rounds now, and, and the first few were marked with abject euphoria. But, this time, Israeli media chose to respect the privacy of the hostages that we presume are coming back. So, the atmosphere is very was very different. It's also raining today. So it just feels like, you know, it just goes with the general mood here.

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Earlier, in a ceremony attended by thousands of men, women, and children, Hamas masked men brought out the caskets. Al Jazeera even interviewed some who claimed to be the kidnappers. Hamas contends that IDF bombs killed the four who were turned over on Thursday, but autopsies will be performed to reveal how they were killed.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog believes these next few days will be "heart-wrenching" for Israelis.

"These are days of a wake-up call—not just for our nation, but for the entire family of nations. In the face of this evil—led by the evil Iranian regime and its proxies, we must stand together, resolutely, firmly, and courageously," Herzog declared.

Thousands of Israelis gathered Wednesday at Hostage Square and again on Thursday.

For many, the Bibas family has become the most well-known of the hostages. The video of a terrified mother clutching her babies has become the emblem of the cruelty of Hamas on October 7th and for more than 500 days afterward.

If they are confirmed as the victims, their deaths would represent three generations of the Bibas family who died on or after October 7th. 

Meanwhile, in Washington, U.S. lawmakers reacted to the deaths.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (R-New York) wrote, "The cold-blooded murder of an infant is as barbaric a crime against humanity as one can commit."

Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) opined, "If Hamas ever invaded the United States and kidnapped and killed American toddlers, we would never stop hunting them down, and yet the world acts baffled that Israel went to war over this."