A heartbreaking video shows a mother, terrified and bewildered, holding her two young, red-headed children as they are surrounded by armed militants. This was the very moment they were kidnapped. By the time this video was made public, Shiri Bibas and her sons were already in Gaza.
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02-13, 2025It is estimated that over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The Bibas family is among the most high-profile cases. They were supposed to be released as part of a complex, multi-stage ceasefire agreement signed this month.
Whether they are still alive depends on who you ask. If they have already perished, it would likely trigger uncontrollable anger and grief in Israel, as this family has become a symbol of the nation’s darkest days. “It is still an ongoing nightmare,” Shiri’s cousin, Yifat Zailer, told ABC News, “Until today, no organization, not the Red Cross, not UNICEF, not Israeli intelligence, is able to tell us about their condition.”
The little baby, Kfir Bibas, was only eight months old when he was kidnapped, and his brother Ariel was four at the time; their photos have been posted on murals and posters across the country. They are the youngest hostages, and the video became headline news around the world. It is believed that the children and their mother are being held together, while their father, Yarden, was also kidnapped but is being held elsewhere.
Over the past 15 months, Hamas has filmed and released videos of some hostages, in which they recount their plight and ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and a hostage-prisoner exchange. In November 2023, Hamas released a video of Yarden Bibas being told that his wife and children had been killed. Hamas claimed they died in an Israeli Defense Forces airstrike in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Yarden broke down in tears in the video. He is now one of 11 male hostages under the age of 50 who were released due to physical or psychological weakness. But it is currently uncertain whether they are still alive.
There are still 94 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, including 91 who were kidnapped in the 2023 attack, and 3 who were captured previously. The fate of many is unclear. Hamas claims they tried to release the remains of Shiri, Kfar, and Ariel during the first ceasefire at the end of 2023, but Israel refused to accept them. But Hamas has also not released any videos or photos of Shiri and her children alive or dead. “I don’t know if I need to buy them clothes because they have nothing here, their house is completely destroyed,” Yifat said, “This uncertainty is completely paralyzing.”
The Israeli government has said that they do not know the family’s fate and warned that Hamas’s statements could be psychological warfare. Israeli authorities believe that at least half of the 94 hostages in Gaza are still alive. As part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians, who are either convicted prisoners or administrative detainees whom Israel is holding without charge or trial. “These weeks are going by very, very slowly, and we hope for the best. We want to see them, hug them, feel them, and help them recover from this nightmare,” Yifat said, “All four of them.”
Hamas released three living Israeli women last weekend and announced that they would release another four women on Saturday. This means that the Bibas children and father will not be released, and therefore, it is likely that the mother will not be released either. Yifat and other relatives of the Bibas family are struggling to remain optimistic. “We are trying to hold on to hope and think in the most positive way. But it is getting harder and harder from week to week, from one release to the next, when we don’t know if they will be the next ones released,” she said.
Under the ceasefire agreement, both sides must publish a list of the people they will release the day before the transfer. Hebrew media reported that on Friday local time, Hamas will provide a list of four women, as well as another list detailing the health conditions of the other hostages expected to be released in the first phase of the agreement. Relatives of the Bibas family are not the only ones worried about the fate of their loved ones. “While we are happy for the four hostages who are planned to be released, knowing that they will be reunited with their families, we are also facing the terrible possibility of learning that some of our loved ones may no longer be alive,” wrote a statement from the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum. The group has been representing those who were captured and injured in Hamas’s October 7 attack.
It is known that some hostages were later killed by Israeli military bombings, three were mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers, and six are believed to have been killed by Hamas guards as Israeli soldiers approached. Many Israelis have expressed skepticism about Hamas’s claims that Shiri, Kfar, and Ariel Bibas are already dead. This tragic question will soon be answered, if they are released. But it is less clear how prepared Israelis are for the worst-case scenario.
