Early on Thursday morning, in choreographed scenes reminiscent of recent handovers of living hostages, four black coffins were laid out on a stage decked with propaganda in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in front of crowds of spectators.

One of the backdrops depicted a ghoulish image of Benjamin Netanyahu with fangs looming over a picture of the four hostages when they were alive. Another read: “The Return of the War = The Return of your Prisoners in Coffins”.

One of those present, Ikram Abu Salout, told the BBC she was against handing over the bodies. “They didn’t remove the rubble and we don’t even know where our children and families are.”

A Red Cross official appeared to sign documents at a table alongside armed Hamas fighters before the four coffins transferred to vehicles belonging to the humanitarian organisation.

United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said the handover was “abhorrent and cruel, and flies in the face of international law”.

“We urge that all returns are conducted in privacy, and with respect and care,” he added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross echoed his words, saying: “These operations should be done privately out of the utmost respect for the deceased and for those left grieving.”

After the handover, the bodies were transferred to Israeli forces in Gaza and brought to Israel. People – many with Israeli flags and yellow ones representing the hostages – lined the streets as a police convoy with the coffins passed by. The bodies have been taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Jaffa, Israel, for post-mortems.

The Bibas family, and Oded Lifschtiz and his wife, were among residents taken from kibbutz Nir Oz when hundreds of Hamas gunmen burst through the border with Israel and attacked communities, security forces sites and a music festival.