GEOFF BENNETT: In Israel this evening outside Tel Aviv, three buses exploded in a parking lot in a suspected militant attack.

Explosives were found on two other buses and neutralized.

There were no reported injuries.

That further rattled the nation after the return today of the remains of four hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The top U.N. human rights official called the jeering, taunting display during the handover abhorrent and cruel.

And while the scene sparked outrage in Israel and beyond, the emotions of many are tempered by the return of hostages still alive, as the "News Hour" saw this past weekend in Southern Israel.

In Khan Yunis in Southern Gaza today, before a crowd of hundreds, with music and fanfare, Hamas held a grim and ghastly ceremony, releasing the remains of four Israeli hostages killed in captivity.

As the bodies returned home to Israel, a palpable sense of grief and agony.

ALON DAVID, Israeli Citizen: We hope that they will come back alive, all of them.

They were murdered.

GEOFF BENNETT: They were the bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas and their mother, Shiri Bibas.

Barely 9 months old on October 7, 2023, Kfir was the youngest hostage, who spent the majority of his short life in captivity.

This video of Shiri embracing her two boys as they were kidnapped from their Nir Oz home became a symbol of the brutality of the October 7 attacks.

WOMAN: We remember the picture of her standing here under this bush with a blanket and crying.

GEOFF BENNETT: In December, the "News Hour" visited the Bibas home and saw evidence of the horrors that unfolded there.

The only survivor, Shiri's husband and the boy's father, Yarden Bibas, who was released two weeks ago.

The hopes of another family also ending in tragedy.

Oded Lifshitz was kidnapped with his wife of more than 60 years.

She was released in November 2023.

But, today, Lifshitz, who was an artist who worked for peace between Palestinians and Israelis, was returned in a coffin.

Israeli forensic official said he was likely killed in captivity over a year ago.

DR. CHEN KUGEL, Head, Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine: Today, 503 days after the October 7 massacre, the body of Mr. Lifshitz, who was murdered more than a year ago in captivity, has been identified.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel is a country in mourning.

And, for some, the day is marked with rage.

OSNAT LOSCH, Israeli Citizen: We got up to this morning with a very bad feeling, very broken trust with our country, yes, with our government.

I'm not ashamed to say it.

GEOFF BENNETT: But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to avenge them.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): Our hearts are broken, but our spirits are not broken.

And with this spirit, we will return all our hostages, annihilate the murderers, wipe out Hamas, and, together with God's help, secure our future.

GEOFF BENNETT: All that many hostage families want is for their loved ones home again.

And, for three families, last weekend, what was once imagined became real.

The "News Hour" was there as the friends and family of Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen watched and waited... GEOFF BENNETT: ... for the moment he was released from captivity.

GILAT BIRAN, Family Friend of Sagui Dekel-Chen: We just saw him.

He's fine.

Everything is fine.

We just want everybody right now to come back.

All the families deserve this day that we are -- experience here.

GEOFF BENNETT: Dekel-Chen was released by Hamas last Saturday, along with two other Nir Oz residents, Sasha Troufanov in red and Iair Horn on the far left.

Back in Israel, a tearful reunion for Sagui in the arms of his wife, embracing his mother and father.

He learned the name of his third child for the first time, born two months after he was kidnapped.

She's now just over a-year-old, with her father finally home.

Another released hostage, Sasha Troufanov, returned to his mother.

And Iair Horn reunited with his father.

DORIN REI, Nir Oz Resident: Sasha is an amazing guy.

Always, I told him, you are such a tall and big person, but, inside, you are such an amazing, amazing boy.

And also Iair -- Iair, we love him so much.

He's such a funny person.

GEOFF BENNETT: Neighbors, family and friends gathered at Horn's pub.

It had been closed since the October 7 attack 16 months ago.

It was reopening now for the first time.

OLA METZGER, Nir Oz Resident: He was the king of this pub.

He was in charge of it with his friend, Martin (ph).

And we miss him so much.

And we're so happy that he's back.

And I hope that he's going to come back and open his place again.

GEOFF BENNETT: Of the nearly 500 residents in Nir Oz, nearly a quarter were killed or kidnapped into Gaza.

OLA METZGER: The families of the people who are alive and the families of those who are not alive, everybody needs to come back if to -- to be again with their families or to be buried properly in Israel.

GEOFF BENNETT: A community now anxiously awaiting their return, along with the rest of a rattled nation.