The Israeli government confirmed on Wednesday that a baby and a child abducted on October 7, 2023, are among the slain hostages who will be returned by Hamas on Thursday. They are Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were 4 years and 10 months old at the time, respectively. Their mother, Shiri, has also been killed and will be returned as well, along with hostage Oded Lifshitz.
"In this difficult time, our hearts are with the grieving families," said the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement. "We will continue to provide reliable updates as needed and ask to refrain from spreading rumors or unofficial information."
Yarden Bibas, Shiri's husband and father of Ariel and Kfir, was also abducted on October 7 and released as part of the current ceasefire agreement. He ought against the Hamas militants before he was captured and separated from his family.
Hours before the attack, Shiri Silberman Bibas was at home with her family in Kibbutz Nir Oz. This small community is home to many Argentinian-Israeli families and was one of the hardest hit by the attack.
Shiri's father, Yosef José Silberman, 67, was an Argentinian immigrant who helped cultivate the kibbutz's crops. He and his Peruvian wife, Margit Silberman, were captured and killed on the same day, Israeli authorities confirmed on Oct. 21.
In November 2023, Hamas released a video of Yarden, who was visibly shaken, claiming his family had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. The father begs for his family's bodies to be returned to Israel. Reacting to the video, the Israel Defense Forces said there was insufficient evidence to confirm the deaths and labeled the video "psychological terror." The government had not acknowledged their dead until Wednesday.
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