Israel grieves as Hamas turns over the remains of the young Bibas brothers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Ariel and Kfir Bibas — two of the youngest hostages held in Gaza — became a symbol for Israelis of the brutality of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The return of their bodies Thursday dashed hopes they had survived captivity and struck another blow to a nation still reeling from the militants’ assault.

The fate of Ariel and Kfir, just 4 years old and 9 months old when they were abducted, captivated Israelis, and the return of their bodies brings a tragic measure of closure, disrupted by Israeli’s announcement that another body Hamas released was not of the boy’s mother, Shiri, as had been presumed.

The outcome is likely to fuel anger over the government’s failure to bring home some 250 hostages sooner and safely, and it could step up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the ceasefire.

The mother and children were taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Video of the abduction, with a terrified Shiri Bibas seen swaddling her boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men, ricocheted around the world.

Yarden Bibas, the father, was abducted and held separately and released on Feb. 1, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that paused the 15-month war in Gaza. During the first phase, 33 hostages are to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight of those 33 were said by Israel to be dead.

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Since his release, Yarden Bibas has pleaded for information about his family, whose fate has been unclear for much of the war.

While Hamas last year released a video of Yarden Bibas in captivity as a sign of life, nothing had been heard from his wife or children. The militant group claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the first weeks of the war, and filmed Yarden Bibas receiving the news. Israel did not confirm the claim, saying just that it had “grave concern” for their lives.

Along with the Bibas boys, the body of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted, was also released. The Israeli military said the body Hamas claimed was Shiri Bibas did not match any hostages and was an unknown person.

On Thursday, thousands of Israelis lined the roads from southern Israel to the National Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv. They stood silently, sometimes in pouring rain, holding flags. As the convoy passed, many wiped away tears and quietly sang Israel’s national anthem.

The Bibas boys became icons and their plight transfixed Israelis

The Bibas family’s struggle became a rallying cry for protesters demanding the hostages be freed. Concern for their well-being emerged during a November 2023 ceasefire, when most women and children were freed, and grew in recent weeks when living women hostages were freed.

Kfir was the youngest of about 30 children taken hostage Oct. 7. The infant with red hair and a toothless smile became an icon across Israel and his ordeal was raised by Israeli leaders on podiums around the world.

The extended Bibas family has been active at protests, branding the color orange as the symbol of their fight for the “ginger babies.” They marked Kfir Bibas’ first birthday with a release of orange balloons and lobbied world leaders for support.

Family photos aired on TV and posted across social media created a national bond with the two boys and made them familiar faces. Israelis learned of Ariel Bibas’ love for Batman and photos from a happier time showed the entire family dressed up as the character.

The Hostages Families Forum said there were more hostages in Gaza whose lives could still be saved, and called for an extension to the ceasefire.

“There is no more time to waste,” it said in a statement.

The fate of the young boys and their mother had been unclear

The lack of information about Shiri Bibas and her children created uncertainty and ambiguity, including among their relatives.

Shiri Bibas’ sister, Dana Silberman-Sitton, has said she did not believe her sister or the children were still alive. She told Israeli news site Ynet that she decided to tell her children in December 2023 that Aunt Shiri and their cousins had died, after Hamas claimed they were killed by Israeli airstrikes.

“I created a defense mechanism for myself: Because I cannot live with uncertainty anymore, I live with the knowledge that Shiri and the kids are dead,” she told Ynet in September.

Silberman-Sitton’s parents, Yossi and Margit Silberman, were also killed on Oct. 7, 2023, at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Yarden Bibas’ sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, took the opposite approach: She insisted that Shiri and the children were still alive, traveled abroad on missions and gave numerous interviews to ensure their story was constantly being mentioned.

The story of the family captured Israel’s attention and much of the world because it encapsulated many of the worst aspects of Hamas’ attack, explained Ruth Pat-Horenczyk, a professor at the Hebrew University school of social work who specializes in trauma.

“The graphic scene of the mother trying to protect the two babies was burned into the mind in the country,” she said.

“Everything together created a kind of capsulated example of pain that really became the most dramatic symbol of Oct. 7.”