The Israeli military releases videos showing Biba's relatives in captivity on October 7
Relatives of an Israeli mother and child who appeared to be shown in captivity in Gaza in recently released videos from the day of the Hamas-led attack said Tuesday they hoped the footage would draw attention to the urgency of the release of the hostages.
The Israeli army distributed videos Members said this on Monday evening the Bibas family in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza on October 7. The New York Times could not immediately verify the footage, which showed a figure covered in a blanket while appearing to hold a red-haired child.
At a tearful news conference, Ofri Bibas-Levy, the sister of Yarden Bibas, who was captured along with his wife Shiri and their two red-haired children, Ariel and Kfir, said she desperately called on Israeli and international leaders to bring her relatives home through a negotiated deal.
“When we saw the video, it really broke our hearts,” Ms. Bibas-Levy said.
The fate of the Bibas family is murky. In late November, Hamas claimed that Ms. Bibas and the children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Israeli officials have not confirmed the claim.
The Bibas family was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a town along Israel's border with Gaza, where more than 70 of the approximately 240 hostages were captured. Kfir, who was nine months old when he was captured, is the youngest hostage in Gaza. Israeli officials estimate that about 130 hostages remain in captivity, although that number is at least 30 thought he was dead.
In the videos, which the Israeli military says are from security cameras in Khan Younis, red hair on the back of a child's head can be seen over the shoulder of a barefoot figure walking along a dirt path, as if being a child to behave. . Surrounded by several men, at least one of whom is armed, the figures are draped in a blanket with a blue and white pattern and transferred in a car.
Kfir is not seen in the videos, but Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli army spokesman, said in a news briefing that the baby was likely in a baby carrier on his mother's chest, as he was when the family was captured in Israel. . He did not say how authorities confirmed the identity.
The Israeli military could not confirm whether Ms. Bibas and her children are alive or dead, but Admiral Hagari said that based on the information they have, “we are very concerned and concerned about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children . .”
He added that “we are doing everything we can to obtain more information about their fate.”
The fate of the Bibas family has captivated the Israeli public and the publication of the videos made headlines in the Israeli media. Yedioth Ahronoth, a popular Israeli daily, led the front page with an article entitled “A mother and two little souls, led into darkness.”
“I know they have become a symbol,” Ms. Bibas-Levy said, “but for us, they are our family, and we want them back.”