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