It's been 500 days since Hamas took approximately 250 hostages after perpetuating a brutal attack against Israel. The fate of the entire Bibas family finally appears to be clear. Yarden Bibas was part of a hostage/prisoner swap earlier this month, though reputable sources had still not shared the fate of his wife, Shiri, or their two children, Kfir who was only 9-months-old when taken hostage, and Ariel, who was 4-years-old. The children were the youngest people taken hostage. Hamas has now shared that they will release their bodies on Thursday, February 20.
Per CNN, Hamas will return the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two babies, Kfir and Ariel this Thursday February 20th.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 18, 2025
Our hearts are broken for the family. pic.twitter.com/YzrYSYpgDy
Hamas says it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including Kfir and Ariel Bibas 💔 pic.twitter.com/gzWqqNrIZ0
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 18, 2025
As CNN reported on Tuesday morning:
The group will also release six living hostages on Saturday, instead of the three that had been expected, Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the group’s negotiating team, said in a statement.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached during negotiations in Cairo for “four slain hostages” to be handed over on Thursday and “six living hostages” to be released on Saturday.
It added that “four additional slain hostages are expected to be handed over to Israel next week.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Hostage Families Forum said that the families of all the hostages set for release, dead and alive, have been notified.
Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israelis, as in past weeks.
It is clearest indication that the Bibas children – who were just nine months and four years old, respectively, when they were kidnapped in October 2023 – are indeed dead.
Those last two paragraphs are particularly key, as Palestinian criminals will be exchanged for innocent Israeli civilians taken hostage approximately 500 days days, though it will have been longer when they're finally released. Hamas announcements are often tricky to parse truth from fiction, as their announcements and hostage videos have been used for propaganda purposes and psychological torture and terrorism.
As the report also mentioned:
Hamas claimed in November 2023 that Kfir and Ariel Bibas were killed along with their mother in an Israeli airstrike, and released a video of their father Yarden, who was also held hostage, in which he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their deaths.
An Israeli military spokesperson at the time called the video “psychological terror,” but the military has told relatives that they may not be alive, according to a spokesperson for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
While the CNN report indicates that Hamas has been claiming since November 2023 that Shiri and her children were killed, The New York Post just over the weekend covered remarks from Shiri's cousin who had hope they were still alive.
On Saturday, the Times of Israel discussed how there were still 14 hostages to be released as part of the deal. A separate article highlighted how American hostages are still in captivity.
The Times of Israel on Thursday morning also shared coverage from Jewish News in the United Kingdom, "Hamas claims bodies of Bibas children to be returned to Israel this week."
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