It is with the heaviest of hearts that we address the horrifying return of the bodies of Shiri Bibas (34), her sons Ariel (5) and Kfir (2), along with 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, after 503 days of brutal captivity in Gaza since their abduction on October 7, 2023. Initially, Hamas falsely returned a coffin meant to contain Shiri Bibas, but instead, it held the body of an unidentified Gazan woman with Shiri’s picture on it, an act of cruel deception. After Israel’s insistence and intense pressure, Hamas returned Shiri’s body the next day without a ceremony.
The barbarity with which Hamas and its supporters treated their remains is beyond comprehension. As part of this so-called “hostage release,” Hamas paraded their coffins through the streets of Gaza, blaring wedding music in the background while thousands of Gazans cheered and celebrated. The bodies were returned in locked coffins with keys that did not fit, a cruel final act of psychological warfare against the grieving families. In response to this depraved display, Israel did not proceed with the planned release of hundreds of convicted terrorists last Saturday as initially agreed upon.
It has now been confirmed that Ariel and Kfir Bibas—two innocent, redheaded children whose captivity gripped the world—were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists in captivity. These monsters used their bare hands to end the lives of these defenseless children, and to further desecrate their bodies, Hamas threw rocks and other debris on them in an attempt to make it appear as though they had died in an airstrike. Their father, Yarden Bibas, has expressed his deep sorrow and his desire for the world to fully grasp the inhumanity his family endured.
The image of Shiri clutching her two young boys—Ariel, just four years old at the time, and Kfir, kidnapped at only nine months—will forever be burned into our collective memory. Ariel was abducted with a pacifier in his mouth, and Kfir, the youngest hostage, spent his short life as a prisoner of Hamas’s barbarity, never knowing freedom beyond the terror tunnels of Gaza. The usual method of identifying an individual based on dental records could not be used with Kfir because he wasn’t old enough to grow teeth.
Oded Lifshitz, one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz and a dedicated peace activist, devoted his life to helping the very people who ultimately betrayed him. He was known for transporting sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals for treatment, yet Hamas showed him no mercy, abducting and torturing him before his brutal murder.
Kibbutz Nir Oz, once a thriving community of approximately 400 residents, was left in ruins after Hamas’s October 7 attack. By October 8, nearly 100 residents had been taken hostage, and 20 were murdered. Only seven out of 220 homes remained unscathed, a testament to the savagery inflicted upon its people.
On that fateful morning, Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband, desperately tried to protect his family. He stepped outside, hoping to draw the terrorists’ attention to himself so that his wife and children might be spared. Instead, he was seized and dragged into Gaza, where he endured 484 days of captivity, subjected to Hamas’s relentless psychological torment about the fate of his wife and children. When he was finally released on February 1, 2025, his very first words echoed the depths of his suffering: “Where is my family?”
The answer he received is one that shakes the conscience of the world. Hamas did not simply murder the Bibas children; they desecrated their memory, celebrated their deaths, and turned their suffering into a spectacle for the masses.
This morning, the funeral for Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel took place. While the ceremony itself was kept intimate for close friends and family, the nation of Israel came together to honor them. An estimated 100,000 Israelis lined the streets leading up to the cemetery, standing in solemn tribute as the Bibas family was escorted to their final resting place.
This heart-wrenching tragedy is a stark reminder of the horrors we face. Yet, it also underscores our unwavering resolve to protect our people and uphold the values upon which our nation was built. We honor the memories of Shiri, Ariel, Kfir, and Oded, vowing to persevere in our quest for justice, security, and the safe return of every hostage still in Hamas captivity.
We remain steadfastly committed to the three war goals set forth by Israel’s war cabinet:
To bring back all the hostages.
To dismantle Hamas as a military and governing entity.
To ensure that the Gaza Strip never again poses a threat to the residents of Israel.
We welcome all efforts to achieve these three critical objectives.
Am Yisrael Chai.
