Israel hostage group mourns 'heart-shattering' death of Bibas babies

An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza said it had received the "heart-shattering" news of the deaths of three members of the Bibas family whose bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday.

"We received the heart-shattering news that Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are no longer with us," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Wednesday, also naming the fourth hostage declared dead. "This news cuts like a knife through our hearts, the families' hearts and the hearts of people all over the world."

Ariel and Kfir both held dual Argentine-Israeli citizenship through their father, Yaden.

On Tuesday, Hamas said it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim.

At the time of the kidnapping, Kfir was only nine months old and turned two years old on January 18 in captivity, while his brother Ariel turned five.

As the youngest person captured by Hamas, Kfir quickly became a well-known symbol of the violence committed against the hostages, with his face printed on Israeli protest signs and international media following his first and second birthdays.

Yarden Bibas, the boys' father and Shiri's husband, was abducted separately on October 7, 2023 and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.

– TIMES/AFP