The haunting image of Shiri Bibas clutching her sons on October 7 was once again splashed across the front pages of Israeli newspapers Wednesday, as a collective sense of anguish set in after Hamas said it would return their bodies.Footage of their abduction, filmed and broadcast by Hamas militants during their unprecedented 2023 attack on Israel, showed the 34-year-old mother and her sons Ariel, then four, and Kfir, just nine months old, being seized from their home near the Gaza border. The images, and those of Kfir and Ariel in particular, quickly became national symbols of the hostage ordeal, encapsulating the terror and despair that gripped the nation.On Tuesday, Hamas declared it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim and many remain unconvinced — including the Bibas family.”In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following (the) Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday,” the Bibas family said in a statement on Tuesday.”Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.”Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.- ‘Not giving up’ -Since the attack, his sister, Ofri Bibas, has waged a relentless campaign for their freedom.”I ask that no one eulogise my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now,” she wrote on Facebook Tuesday night following Hamas’s announcement.Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.The national forensic institute in Tel Aviv has mobilised 10 doctors to expedite the identification process, public broadcaster Kan reported Wednesday.Families will be informed once the identification is complete, followed by a public announcement in accordance with Israeli protocol for hostage and soldier deaths.Despite the agonising wait, many Israelis still believe the two red-haired boys and their mother could be alive.Some commentators have argued that Hamas has falsely declared hostages dead in the past, only for them to later reappear, describing it a form of psychological warfare against Israel.The Israeli military also issued a statement urging the public not to take notice of what it called “unverified rumours” about the hostages, without elaborating.While Israel clings to the hope that the three could still be alive, some world leaders have already begun mourning their deaths.French President Emmanuel Macron posted a photo of Shiri Bibas holding her children, describing them as “the faces of an eternal humanity that Hamas’s barbarity will never erase”.US Congressman Ritchie Torres was more direct, saying “Hamas has murdered the Bibas family”.”The cold-blooded murder of an infant is as barbaric a crime against humanity as one can commit,” he wrote on X.Kfir Bibas is the youngest of the 251 hostages who were taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7.
The haunting image of Shiri Bibas clutching her sons on October 7 was once again splashed across the front pages of Israeli newspapers Wednesday, as a collective sense of anguish set in after Hamas said it would return their bodies.Footage of their abduction, filmed and broadcast by Hamas militants during their unprecedented 2023 attack on Israel, showed the 34-year-old mother and her sons Ariel, then four, and Kfir, just nine months old, being seized from their home near the Gaza border. The images, and those of Kfir and Ariel in particular, quickly became national symbols of the hostage ordeal, encapsulating the terror and despair that gripped the nation.On Tuesday, Hamas declared it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim and many remain unconvinced — including the Bibas family.”In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following (the) Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday,” the Bibas family said in a statement on Tuesday.”Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over.”Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.- ‘Not giving up’ -Since the attack, his sister, Ofri Bibas, has waged a relentless campaign for their freedom.”I ask that no one eulogise my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now,” she wrote on Facebook Tuesday night following Hamas’s announcement.Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.The national forensic institute in Tel Aviv has mobilised 10 doctors to expedite the identification process, public broadcaster Kan reported Wednesday.Families will be informed once the identification is complete, followed by a public announcement in accordance with Israeli protocol for hostage and soldier deaths.Despite the agonising wait, many Israelis still believe the two red-haired boys and their mother could be alive.Some commentators have argued that Hamas has falsely declared hostages dead in the past, only for them to later reappear, describing it a form of psychological warfare against Israel.The Israeli military also issued a statement urging the public not to take notice of what it called “unverified rumours” about the hostages, without elaborating.While Israel clings to the hope that the three could still be alive, some world leaders have already begun mourning their deaths.French President Emmanuel Macron posted a photo of Shiri Bibas holding her children, describing them as “the faces of an eternal humanity that Hamas’s barbarity will never erase”.US Congressman Ritchie Torres was more direct, saying “Hamas has murdered the Bibas family”.”The cold-blooded murder of an infant is as barbaric a crime against humanity as one can commit,” he wrote on X.Kfir Bibas is the youngest of the 251 hostages who were taken to Gaza by Hamas on October 7.
