The entire Bibas family is on the Hamas hostage list

The entire Bibas family – including the two children who are the youngest hostages – is on the list drawn up by Hamas for exchange as part of the negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. It is unclear whether Shiri, 33, Yarden, 34, and their two children, Ariel, 5, and Kfir, almost two, are still alive. In November 2023, less than two months after their abduction and the start of the Israeli offensive, Hamas had announced that the mother and two children were dead in a bombing and had shown a video in which the news was given to Yarden, the only survivor because he was held prisoner in another place.

However, the IDF had never confirmed the news and it may have been one of the many episodes of psychological warfare initiated by the terrorist group. The Bibas had been taken prisoner at their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. At 6:30 a.m., Yarden had texted his sister that there was terrible fighting and efforts to keep the wave of terrorists away from their home.

In the Nir Oz kibbutz, 180 of the 400 residents were killed or kidnapped. Shiri’s parents, Margit Shnaider Silberman and Yosi Silberman, also longtime Nir Oz residents, were killed in the attack. Yarden’s last message to his parents and sister is from 9:45 am on October 7: he warned them that terrorists had entered the house. About two hours later, a video began circulating of Shiri, holding both children in her arms, with a look of terror on her face as the terrorists surrounded her. Yarden appeared in another video, wounded in the head, surrounded by terrorists.