The Bibas family became a symbol of the hostages held in Gaza.
On Thursday, Hamas released the bodies believed to be of Shiri and her two sons, 4-year-old Ariel and 10-month-old Kfir. Hamas claims they died in an Israeli airstrike while being held captive. It’s a claim the Israeli government has not confirmed.
The family was abducted during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Yarden Bibas, husband to Shiri, was released earlier this month.
During the 16-month war, the fate of the Bibas family weighed on many.
“I received on my phone video of my cousin, video that the terrorists took,” said Shiri’s cousin, Yifat Zeiler.
Zeiler spoke to Scripps News just weeks after the Bibas family was kidnapped, expressing major concern for the children.
“He just started to crawl. He’s just started to eat raw food, you know, some smashed bananas and apples and soup,” she said. “And Ariel the 4-year-old is an amazing boy. He enters the room and everything stops because he needs to be the center of attention.”
Hamas plans to release six surviving hostages on Saturday as part of a deal that includes the exchange of hundreds of Palestinian detainees. The group also announced it will hand over four additional bodies next week, marking the completion of the ceasefire’s initial phase.