For more than a year, many Israelis and others in the world have been anxious by the fate of a mother and her two young sons captured by armed men and led to Gaza during the assault led by the Hamas of October 7, 2023.
On Tuesday, the hope dissipated that the Israeli woman, Shiri Bibas and her children would have returned alive when Hamas announced that he would put some of their bodies at least this week. Later, Israeli officials warned against the dissemination of “rumors” concerning hostages without commenting on the declaration of Hamas.
For many Israelis, the kidnapping of Ms. Bibas, her husband, Yarden, and their children Rousse – Ariel, who was 4 years old at the time, and KFIR, even 9 months – embodies the cruelty of the attack on Directed by Hamas which caused the 15 -month war in Gaza. The capture of the family has become a cry of rallying both for those who supported an agreement to end the war and negotiate the rapid liberation of the hostages, and for those who thought that Israel should continue to fight until to what Hamas is destroyed.
The news that Hamas gave the bodies, which was part of a series of exchanges negotiated in this phase of a cease-fire agreement, followed the release of 19 living Israeli hostages in recent weeks. If these outings have noted the spirits in Israel, the report on the death of children left many members of the country distraught.
Israel did not confirm the death of the three members of the Bibas family, but the Israeli army said last month that it was “seriously concerned” about them.
Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners and prisoners in exchange for bodies.
Mr. Bibas was removed separately from Gaza. He was seen in video sequences hunted with a bleeding head injury. Ms. Bibas’ parents were also killed in the attack by Hamas.
The kidnapping of the Bibas family was seized in the Israeli national psyche. The campaign for their exit presented orange balloons to symbolize rousized boys as well as references to Batman, a character loved by the toddler Ariel.
In a video of the attack, Ms. Bibas could be seen in the process of desperately tightening her two sons while a Palestinian activist stood nearby. Wrapped in a blanket, she seemed terrified.
On Tuesday, the Bibas family said in a statement that Hamas’ commitment to send them home their bodies had sent them “in troubles” but that they were still waiting for more information. “Until we receive a final confirmation, our trip is not over,” said the family.
According to Israel, around 1,200 people were killed in the attack led by Hamas and more than 250 kidnapped, according to Israel. One of the hardest communities affected was the hometown of Bibases, Nir Oz, of which about a quarter of the 400 residents were killed or taken hostage. Kfir was the youngest to be seized.
The attack prompted Israel to declare war in Hamas and invade Gaza into a military campaign that killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and left a large part of the ruined coastal enclave.
Mr. Bibas sent a text to other family members throughout the attack on the fortified security room where he had hidden with his wife and children. “I love you all,” Bibas wrote while Palestinian armed men have invaded Nir Oz. He then sent a last missive: “They enter.”
The Hamas armed wing, the Qassam brigades, published a statement in November 2023 that Ms. Bibas and her two children were killed during an Israeli air strike. The fears for their destiny increased when they were not among the other captive mothers and children released during a week-long ceasefire this month.
Hamas then published a propaganda video showing Mr. Bibas in captivity by sobing while he was responding to the complaint that his family had been killed.
A year ago, the Israeli army published images of a security camera which, she said, showed that Ms. Bibas and the children of Gaza on the day of their abduction were wrapped in a sheet and forced in a car . Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli soldiers, 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 elsewhere.
Earlier this month, Mr. Bibas was released as part of the truce between Israel and Hamas that started in January. The agreement stipulates that Hamas publishes at least 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners during the first phase of the agreement, which, unusual, should expire in early March.
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 has not yet returned me,” Bibas said in a statement after his return to Israel. “They are still there. My light is still there, and as long as they are there, everything here is dark. “”
Eylon Keshet, Mr. Bibas’s cousin, described Ariel in November 2023 as a boy who liked to be the center of attention and play with tractors and toy cars. KFIR, he said, was a “cold” baby on the formula that was barely starting to eat solid foods.
“We always hang on to hope,” Jimmy Miller, another parent, said In a radio interview this week. “We hope for tears of joy, rather than tears of sorrow.”
