Hamas is preparing to return the bodies of four Israeli hostages today, including Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and KFIR, who have been fearing dead for a long time and came to embody the pain of Israel after the attack of 7 October .
At only nine months old, KFIR was the youngest prisoner who was taken that day. He was taken next to his mother Shiri and the then four -year -old brother Ariel.
The husband of Shiri, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month after 16 months in captivity, after Hamas was told that his wife and children were dead.
Hamas said that all three early in the war in an Israeli air raid were killed. Their deaths were confirmed last night by the High Investks and Missing Families Forum.
Hamas is also planning to release the body of Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist who was 83 years old when he was taken out of his house in NIR OZ, will be released today.
“The heart of a whole nation breaks,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday awaiting the bodies that were returned to Israel.
Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed hunters of Hamas and other factions, gathered at the transfer site on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where large banners were set up, including one that shows an image of skills draped in Israeli Flags.
There were no plans to broadcast the transfer live on hostages in Tel Aviv, where Israelis gathered to view the release of living hostages. The square was empty because it rained on and off at both locations, which are about 60 miles apart.
A Hamas terrorist is on four coffins, which are assumed to hold the bodies of the four hostages
The Bibas -Family – Father Yarden, mother Shiri, Baby KFIR and four -year -old Ariel – were captured on October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists of the NIR OZ Kibbutz
This undated photo of the highs and missing families forum shows Israeli hostage agent Oded Lifshitz who was abducted and brought to Gaza on October 7, 2023
Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed hunters of Hamas and other factions, have gathered at the transfer location
A Hamas hunter is next to the coffins before being transferred to Israel
Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, are guardian while they are waiting for the transfer
Thousands of people, including citizens and large numbers of masked and armed hunters of Hamas and other factions, gathered on the site, where large banners were set up
Israelis have celebrated the return of 24 living hostages in recent weeks under a shaky stakes -the fires that paused war for 15 months.
But the transfer on Thursday will offer a grim memory to those who died in captivity, while the conversations drag on for more than a year prior to the truce.
It can also offer a boost for negotiations on the second phase of ceases -the fires that have hardly started. The first phase will end at the beginning of March.
KFIR Bibas was only nine months old, a red -haired baby with a toothless smile, when terrorists stormed the house of the family on October 7, 2023.
His brother Ariel was four. Video recording that day showed a terrified Shiri who blew the two boys while terrorists led them to Gaza.
Family members in Israel have adhered to Hope and Marken Kfir's first and second birthdays and the fifth of his brother. The Bibas family said on Wednesday in a statement that it would wait for 'identification procedures' before he acknowledged that their loved ones were dead.
Proponents in Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the family – a reference to the red hair of two boys – and a popular children's song is written in honor of them.
Just like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, together with his wife Yochtedwed, who was released in November 2023 during a cease -the one -week -fired.
Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.
Terrorists guided by Hamas kidnapped 251 hostages, including around 30 children, in the attack of 7 October, in which they also killed around 1200 people, mainly citizens.
Shiri Bibas, 32, seems desperate while she holds both young sons during their kidnapping by Hamas on October 7, 2023
More than half of the hostages, and most women and children, have been released in ceases -fire or other deals. Israeli troops have saved eight and have found dozens of bodies of people killed in the first attack or who died in captivity.
On Saturday, Hamas will free six living hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and says that it will release four bodies next week and complete the first phase of the ceasefires.
That will leave the terrorists with around 60 hostages, all men, of whom about half are considered dead.
Hamas has said that it will not release the remaining prisoners without a permanent stop -the fire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Netanyahu, with the full support of the Trump government, says that he is committed to destroying the military and ruling capacities of Hamas and to return all hostages, goals that are generally considered exclusively.
A group that represents the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 has tragically confirmed that KFIR Bibas is dead
Ariel Bibas was four when he was abducted by Hamas during the attack of 7 October 2023
Yarden Bibas is depicted together with his sister and father aboard a military helicopter on his way to the Sheba hospital in Ramat Gan on February 1, 2025
Shiri Bibas holding her son Kfir. The couple, and her other son Ariel, confirmed his death
Trump's proposal to remove about two million Palestinians from Gaza, so that the US can possess and rebuild it, which has been embraced by Israel but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, it has strikes -the fire.
Hamas can be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes that the war will resume with the aim of destroying the group or to transfer the population of Gaza with violence.
The military offensive of Israel has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, according to the health minister of Gaza, which makes no distinction between citizens and fighters in its data.
Israel says that it killed more than 17,000 hunters without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed huge areas of Gaza, which reduces entire neighborhoods to buildings with rubble and bombed buildings.
At its peak, the war moved 90 percent of the Gazas population. Many have returned to their houses to find nothing and no way to rebuild.
