Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages Thursday, parading four black caskets on a stage against a backdrop of propaganda slogans and behind white missiles spattered with red paint bearing the phrase “they were killed by USA bombs.”

In what is likely to be one of the defining images of the war in the Gaza Strip, the four caskets sat on a raised platform in front of smiling illustrations of three members of the Bibas family and 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz.

Among the bodies believed to…