In a video from the attack, Shiri Bibas could be seen desperately clutching her two sons while a Palestinian militant stood nearby. Wrapped in a blanket, she appeared terrified.
The Bibas family said in a statement that Hamas’ pledge to send home their bodies had sent them “into turmoil” but that they were still awaiting further information. “Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family said.
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Roughly 1200 people were killed in the Hamas-led 2023 attack and more than 250 abducted, according to Israel. One of the hardest-hit communities was the Bibases’ hometown, Nir Oz, roughly a quarter of whose 400 residents were either killed or taken hostage. Kfir was the youngest to be seized.
The attack prompted Israel to declare war on Hamas and invade Gaza in a military campaign that killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and combatants and left much of the coastal enclave in ruins.
Yarden Bibas texted other family members throughout the attack from the fortified safe room where he had hidden with his wife and children. “I love you all,” Bibas wrote as Palestinian gunmen overran Nir Oz. He later sent a final missive: “They’re coming in.”
Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, put out a statement in November 2023 that Shiri Bibas and her two children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Fears about their fates grew when they were not among the other captive mothers and children released during a weeklong ceasefire that month.
Hamas later put out a propaganda video showing Yarden Bibas in captivity sobbing as he responded to the claim his family had been killed.
A woman holds a cage with teddy bears representing hostages in them near a poster for the Bibas family.Credit: Getty Images
A year ago, the Israeli military released footage from a security camera that it said showed Shiri Bibas and the children in Gaza on the day of their abduction being wrapped in a sheet and forced into a car. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, said at the time that the captives had been taken to an outpost belonging to the Mujahedeen Brigades, a small armed group, in eastern Khan Younis, Gaza, and that they were then taken somewhere else.
This month, Yarden Bibas was released as part of the truce between Israel and Hamas that began in January. The agreement stipulates that Hamas release at least 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1500 Palestinian prisoners over the deal’s first phase, which, barring an extension, is set to expire in early March.
Hamas fighters escort the hostage Yarden Bibas to be handed over to Red Cross officials in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on February 1.Credit: Saher Alghorra/The New York Times
The Israeli government said last month that Hamas had provided a list indicating that 25 of the 33 hostages were alive and that eight had been killed.
“Sadly, my family hasn’t returned to me yet,” Yarden Bibas said in a statement after his return to Israel. “They are still there. My light is still there, and as long as they’re there, everything here is dark.”
Eylon Keshet, Yarden Bibas’ cousin, described Ariel in November 2023 as a boy who loved being the centre of attention and playing with toy tractors and cars. Kfir, he said, was a “chill” baby on formula who was just beginning to eat solid food.
“We are still clinging to hope,” Jimmy Miller, another relative, said in a radio interview this week. “We are hoping for tears of joy, rather than tears of sorrow.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
