The family of Kfir Bibas, a baby kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza, experienced even greater suffering today after the terrorists offered to hand over the bodies of three hostages to Israel.
Hamas claimed that Israel had rejected its offer to hand over the three bodies, without naming the dead.
But it comes a day after the terrorists claimed – without providing evidence – that the 10-month-old son, his four-year-old brother Ariel and his mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, were killed in an Israeli bombing before the ceasefire concluded on Friday was announced.
Kfir’s father Yarden, 34, who was also taken hostage by the terrorists, was not mentioned in the statement.
The Israeli military said yesterday it was investigating Hamas’ claims that the baby was killed along with his mother and brother while they were being held hostage by the terrorists.
The IDF, which called Hamas “cruel and inhumane,” said it had spoken to Bibas’ family about the claims, which are casting a massive shadow on last-minute negotiations for a further extension of the ceasefire.
Last night, Kfir’s distraught family expressed hope that Hamas’s claim that the trio had been killed would be exposed as a lie, saying they were waiting for the claims to be refuted by Israeli military officials.
But today Hamas appeared to signal it was ready to hand over their bodies after saying it had offered to exchange the bodies of three hostages. The terrorists claimed that Israel had rejected their offer.
The terrorists failed to name the dead in their statement, and if their claims turn out to be untrue, it would be another example of the cruel mind games the terrorists have been playing since their barbaric attack on Israel.
Hamas has claimed that Kfir Bibas, a baby kidnapped by the terrorists and taken to Gaza, was killed along with his mother and brother in an Israeli airstrike before the ceasefire was announced six days ago
The Bibas family, father Yarden, mother Shiri, baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, were captured by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023
The image of the two little boys carried by their crying mother Shiri as they marched from their homes was one of the most powerful published in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war. It was hoped they would be released this evening
Video showed the sobbing mother clinging to Kfir and Ariel during the abduction, while horrified neighbors screamed: “She’s having a baby.”
The world watched in horror as footage emerged on October 7 of Hamas terrorists dragging Shiri and her young family from their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz to a waiting motorcycle.
Video showed the sobbing mother clinging to Kfir and Ariel during the abduction, while horrified neighbors screamed: “She’s having a baby.”
The family has not been heard from since, but there were hopes that they would be released by Hamas as part of a prisoner swap during the ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group.
But Hamas claimed yesterday – without providing evidence – that Kfir, Shiri and Ariel were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in the days before the ceasefire announcement.
If true, this claim could provoke an explosive reaction from Israel, as the family was among the most prominent civilian hostages yet to be released.
There were previously fears that nine-year-old Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand had been killed by Hamas terrorists, but she was later found to be alive. The student, who spent her ninth birthday in captivity, has since been released.
The Israeli military said in a statement last night that it had spoken to Kfir’s family about the allegations before condemning Hamas for its “cruelty” and “inhumanity.”
But Hamas claimed today that Israel had rejected the terrorists’ offer to hand over the bodies of three hostages, apparently referring to Kfir, Shiri and Ariel.
This morning, Israel and Hamas reached a last-minute agreement to extend their ceasefire for another day, and Washington said it hoped the ceasefire could be extended further to free more hostages and allow aid to flow into Gaza.
But until the extension was agreed, Hamas blamed Israel for a possible end to the ceasefire.
Without providing any evidence, the terrorists accused Israel of “refusing to accept seven women and children detained today, as well as the bodies of three prisoners of the same category who were killed as a result of the Zionist bombardment of Gaza.”
The terrorists gave no information about who the dead were – but there are growing fears that they were referring to Shiri and her two young sons.
With his red hair and toothless smile, Kfir’s harrowing ordeal has become for many a symbol of the brutality of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which the terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis in their homes or fleeing a music festival.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, claimed, without providing evidence, that the 10-month-old baby, his mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, and his four-year-old brother Ariel (pictured) were killed in an Israeli bombardment before the ceasefire was announced
Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, is pictured here with her two young sons
Shiri is pictured playing with her baby Kfir. The couple were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists who now claim – without providing evidence – that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike
Ariel Bibas is pictured here playing with soap bubbles. He was captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7
Yesterday, Kfir’s family said the baby, who has now spent more than a fifth of his young life in captivity, his brother and his parents were not on the list of hostages to be released this evening.
Yossi Schneider – Shiri’s cousin – told Israel’s Morning News that Kfir and his family members were not on Wednesday’s list and accused Hamas of “passing him from hand to hand like an animal.”
His comments came after an IDF spokesman said Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were believed to have been handed over to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – a jihadist group that wants to destroy Israel and has rejected any diplomatic engagement in the past.
“It’s like our personal Schindler list,” Schneider said. “Every day we wait to see who will come back and who won’t. It’s like the list that chooses who will live and who will die.”
He questioned why Hamas took the 10-month-old baby and four-year-old child in the first place and questioned what value they had as “negotiating chips.”
“What exactly were the Hamas terrorists thinking about when they kidnapped her?” What exactly were they afraid of? What did they think Kfir could do to them?
“They pass him from hand to hand like an animal. ‘I don’t understand.’
“There is no precedent for something like this, with a baby kidnapped at nine months old,” Eylon Keshet, the cousin of Kfir’s father, told reporters on Tuesday. “Is Baby Kfir the enemy of Hamas?”
Kfir’s family, like other relatives of prisoners, has been tormented since October 7th. They have received no sign that he is still alive and wonder how such a helpless infant can cope in captivity for so long.
Schneider said the wait for news was “unbearable.”
“The days are very long and we are just waiting for the list to come out today. “We are disappointed once again,” he said, explaining that the family learned that the young hostages had been handed over by Hamas to another terrorist group.
Palestinians shop at an open-air market among the ruins of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks during the conflict in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, amid a temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel
A man holds a child as Palestinians shop at an open-air market near the ruins of houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday
Raz Ben Ami, 57, reunites with her daughters after arriving in Israel after being held hostage by Hamas in Tel Aviv on Thursday
A child cries near the destroyed houses in Khan Younis, Gaza on Thursday
He said: “They were sold as some kind of pet.” What kind of people use a 10-month-old boy as an asset?
“They use him like a chess piece or a Monopoly card.”
“The world needs to wake up and understand what is happening.” This [Hamas] is an evil organization. Of course I’m happy for those who are coming out, but we need our family back together.
“Hamas is playing with people’s lives.” They don’t follow the rules.
“We haven’t seen our family for 55 days.” Kfir hasn’t seen light for 55 days. It’s crazy. We have heard from the returned hostages that they have no food, have lice and cannot shower. An adult could just about handle it, but a child? Can a ten month old baby? I do not believe that.’
On October 7, Shiri and her husband Yarden, armed only with a pistol, had frantically sprinted to their safe room with their two young children when they heard the gunmen trying to break down their front door.
Yarden had reportedly texted his relatives “I love you all” as they sought shelter as militants fired semi-automatic weapons outside their window. Half an hour later he texted menacingly, “They’re coming in,” before communications stopped. The family has not been heard from since then.
They had hoped the Bibas family would be released during the ceasefire, which is due to expire on Friday after a further extension was agreed today.
International pressure has increased to continue the ceasefire as long as possible after nearly eight weeks of Israeli bombings and a ground campaign in Gaza killed thousands of Palestinians, displaced more than three-quarters of its 2.3 million residents and led to a humanitarian crisis .
Israel, which has called for Hamas to release at least 10 hostages a day to maintain the ceasefire, said it received a last-minute list of those who would be released on Thursday, allowing it to make plans to resume fighting at dawn cancel.
“In view of the efforts of the mediators to continue the process of releasing the hostages and subject to the conditions of the framework, the operational pause will continue,” the Israeli military said in a statement released minutes before the ceasefire expired at 0500 GMT.
Hamas, which released 16 hostages on Wednesday while Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners, also said the ceasefire would last a seventh day.