The Agony and Unknown Destiny of Baby Kfir Bibas's Family
Youngest Israeli hostage 1-yr-old Kfir Bibas |
"It's my birthday and I am not with my family.""It's my birthday and I don't get presents.""It's my birthday and I hope that you remember me."
"It's crazy to bake and bring a cake, put balloons and blessings on the wall for someone who's not even here."
"They were very modest and humble people who had come to Nir Oz to live their life quietly and peacefully."
"Shiri is an artist and a lovable kindergarten teacher with a great sense of humour."
"Kfir did not have a chance to live a normal life, he did not have enough time to experience things."
"Ariel [his brother], loved Batman. The family bought Batman pajamas for everybody."
Somehow I can feel them, I can feel that they are still alive. I cannot really explain it, because it's a feeling."
"There
is no other option for me. I have to keep acting like they are alive
and do everything to bring them back as soon as possible."
Yossi Schneider, Bibas family relative
When
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad stormed into southern Israel after
breaching the separation barrier from Gaza, so they could begin a
planned day of atrocities against Israelis living in small farming
communities bordering Gaza on October 7, not only did they slaughter
over 1,200 children, women, elderly and infirm, foreign farm workers and
Israeli soldiers, while pillaging and mass-raping Israeli girls and
women, mutilating and murdering them, they also abducted 240 people,
from infants to the aged.
Nine-month-old
Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, along with their mother
Shiri Bibas and the children's father, Yarden Bibas were among those
taken in captivity to Gaza, to be held both as human shields and as
prospective 'trades' for Palestinians sentenced to prison in Israel for
criminal activities. Yesterday, Israel acknowledged that the
nine-month-old has been captive in Gaza for three months, and it's where
he is now on his birthday. A year-old child. Not that his older
brother, at four, would be any more adaptable to their current
situation.
Those
who gathered within the Kibbutz Nir Oz kindergarten have no idea
whether the family has survived, and whether their ordeal is ongoing to
the present. All told, 78 residents of the kibbutz were kidnapped by
Hamas on October 7. Some likely also by the PLFP who were also present,
as were ordinary Palestinian civilians and the PIJ terror group. The
kindergarten teacher Maya Goren was among the 39 kibbutz members
murdered that day. This tragedy will become part of Israel's sorrowful
history.
Kibbutz
Nir Oz is a beautiful -- WAS a beautiful oasis in the desert. Within it
is Israel's most beautiful of botanical gardens. Now the kibbutz bears
little resemblance to what it once was; ruins of deserted homes, blood
stains indelibly dried everywhere, testament to the orgy of killing the
terrorists indulged themselves in. There was a October 7 video with
Shirl holding Ariel and Kfir in her arms while being taken hostage, that
aired on social media.
The Bibas family, father Yarden, mother Shiri, baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, were taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nir Oz. |
At
a later time, there were pictures that showed a terrorist with a hammer
in his hand, strangling Yarden Bibas, bleeding and surrounded by other
terrorists. Most women and children hostages were released as part of a
week-long truce between Israel and Hamas in late November. Absent from
those being returned were Shiri, Ariel and Kfir. Soon afterward Hamas
released a video with an emaciated Yarden begging the government of
Israel to bargain for his family's release.
Hamas,
at the same time, indicated the three had died in an Israeli airstrike.
They also claimed that the three had been in others' hands, that they
had lost track of where they were being held. When their captors
informed Yarden Bibas that his wife and children were dead, another
released hostage was with him and she described how Yarden in a weak
psychological state had broken down entirely.
When
the ceremony of remembrance and celebration of the baby's birthday
ended at Kibbutz Nir Oz, guests released balloons in a symbolic gesture
of freedom. The balloons rose into the sky, wafting toward Gaza while
the group wished Kfir a happy birthday.
Orange balloons fill the skies above Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday as hundreds gathered to mark the grim milestone of the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, who is a hostage in Hamas captivity. Thursday, January 18, 2024. (Photo: Debbie Weis |
Labels: Abductions, Hamas Invasion of Israel, Infant Kfir Bibas, Mass Murder, Rape
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