Hamas said on Tuesday, which will deliver the bodies of four Israeli hostages next Thursday, 20, including members of the Bibas family, and six live hostages two days later, on Saturday, 22. The terrorist group does not It specified, but it is believed that the bodies will be from Shiri Silberman Bibas and his two small children, Ariel and Kfir.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed in a statement that “understandings” were reached for Hamas to release the 10 live and killed hostages this week and four more bodies are expected to be released next week. The six are the last living hostages to be released under the first phase of ceasefire. Both sides still need to negotiate the second and most difficult phase, in which Hamas would free dozens of hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a Israeli retreat.
For over a year, many Israelis and others around the world were distressed by Shiri’s destinations and his two small children who were captured by Hamas and taken to the Gaza Strip during the October 7, 2023 attack to Israel .
The hopes that they would be released all alive dissipated on Tuesday, when the group reported that it would return at least one of their bodies this week. Israeli officers then warned against the spread of “rumors” about hostages without commenting on the statement of Hamas.
For many Israelis, the kidnapping of Shiri Bibas, her husband, Yarden, and her red -old children – Ariel, who was 4 at the time, and Kfir, who was not even 9 months old – summarized the cruelty of the attack led by Hamas . The kidnapping of the family became a cry for both those who supported an agreement to finish the war and negotiate the rapid release of hostages, as for those who believed Israel should continue to fight until Hamas was destroyed.
The news that Hamas would deliver the bodies, part of a series of traded exchanges at this stage of a ceasefire agreement, followed the release of 19 living Israeli hostages in recent weeks. If these releases raised their moods in Israel, the news of the children’s death left many in the country anguished.
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Israel has not yet confirmed the deaths of the three members of the Bibas family, but the Israeli army said last month it was “seriously worried” about them. Israel is expected to release prisoners and Palestinian detainees in exchange for bodies.
Yarden Bibas was kidnapped separately to Gaza. He was seen in filming being taken away with a bleeding wound on his head. Shiri Bibas’s elderly parents were also killed in the attack led by Hamas.
The kidnapping of the Bibas family was recorded in the minds of the Israelis. The campaign for its release brought orange balloons to symbolize the redheads, as well as references to Batman, a character beloved by little Ariel.
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In a video of the attack, Shiri Bibas is seen desperately grabbing his two children while a Palestinian was around. Involved in a blanket, she seemed terrified.
On Tuesday, the Bibas family said in a statement that Hamas’s promise to send home their bodies left them “in turmoil,” but they were still waiting for more information. “Until we receive a definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” said the family.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed in the attack led by Hamas in 2023 and more than 250 kidnapped, according to Israel. One of the most affected communities was Bibas’ hometown, Nir Oz, about a quarter of its 400 residents were killed or made hostage. Kfir was the youngest to be kidnapped.
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The attack led 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 roasting enclave in ruins.
During the attack, Yarden Bibas sent messages to other family members from inside the fortified room where he hid with his wife and children. “I love you all,” he wrote while Hamas gunmen dominated Nir Oz. He then sent one last message: “They are entering.”
Hamas’s armed arm, the Qassam brigades, released a statement in November 2023 that Shiri Bibas and his two children had been killed in an Israeli air strike. Fears about their destinations grew when they were not among other mothers and hostage children released during a one-week ceasefire that month.
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Later, Hamas released a video of propaganda showing Yarden Bibas in captive crying while responding to the statement that his family had been killed.
A year ago, the Israeli army released images of a security camera that, according to him, showed Shiri Bibas and the children in Gaza on the day of his kidnapping being involved in a sheet and forced to enter a car. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the main Israeli army spokesman, said at the time that the hostages had been taken to an advanced post belonging to the Mujaheden brigades, a small armed group in eastern Khan Youis, Gaza, and then that later They were taken elsewhere.
Earlier 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 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase of the agreement, which, except for an extension, is expected to expire in early March.
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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.
“Unfortunately, my family hasn’t returned to me yet,” said Yarden Bibas in a statement after his return to Israel. “They are still there. My light is still there, and while they are there, everything here is dark. ”
Eylon Keshet, Yarden’s cousin, described Ariel in November 2023 as a boy who loved to be the center of attention and play with tractors and toy cars. Kfir, he said, was a “quiet” baby who was just starting to eat solid foods.
“We are still clinging to hope,” said Jimmy Miller, another relative, in a radio interview this week. “We are waiting for tears of joy instead of tears of sadness.”
