AVIV TEL Posters of a happy, red-headed infant boy holding a pink elephant can be seen all around Israel on lampposts, storefront windows, and smartphone screens.
The nation is now preparing to learn Kfir Bibasfate.
Kfir, the youngest prisoner still held captive in Gaza, was abducted during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist onslaught, barely under 9 months old. Having never celebrated a birthday outside of confinement, he turned two on Saturday.
The Israeli government said 33 captives, including Kfir, his 5-year-old brother Ariel, and his parents Yarden and Shiri Bibas, will be released during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. However, whether the toddler is still alive is unknown.
Sometimes I want to scream because it’s so difficult to not know. Kfir’s aunt, Ofri Bibas-Levy, told NBC News earlier this week. Even if it’s the worst thing, just let me know.
Shiri Babas appeared frightened in a video shot close to their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel on the day of the Hamas attacks, clutching her two sons while fighters yell commands.
Later that day, the trio would be last seen on camera as they were herded by gunmen through the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza.
A one-week ceasefire in November 2023 saw the release of all other child hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, but the Bibas family never left Gaza.
Hamas said in a statement on one of the last days of the short-lived truce that Shiri Bibas and the children had been killed in an Israeli bombardment. Yarden Bibas was still alive and in captivity, according to the report.
Israel’s military revealed its concerns for the family in February 2024, while initially stating that the information could not be verified.
The top spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, stated at a news conference that “we are very concerned and worried about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children based on the information available to us.”
The Bibas family is now braving the possibility that, in one form or another, over a year of excruciating uncertainty may soon be coming to an end. Regarding the ceasefire agreement, Ofri Bibas-Levy stated, “We are very scared as well, but we know will bring us some kind of certainty.” It may or may not be a good certainty.
Although we are aware of the conditions in which the hostages are being held, the 38-year-old occupational therapist stated that she was still hopeful that Shiri Bibas and her two sons might still be alive.
Even if they survived the strike in which Hamas said they were murdered, it is still challenging for a toddler and an infant, she continued. We are extremely, extremely concerned.
According to hostages who were with Kfir in captivity and have since been released, his father, Yarden Bibas, was abducted apart from his wife and kids and detained in a different area of Gaza.
The last time Nili Margalit, a Nir Oz neighbor, saw Yarden Bibas was on November 30, 2023, shortly before she was freed during the first truce.
She claimed that she was ordered by a Hamas guard to inform Yarden Bibas that his wife and children had died, but she refused to comply. Rather, she informed her captor that he must look Yarden in the eyes and tell him whether he wishes to deliver such a terrible punishment.
After informing Yarden Bibas, Hamas published a video of the distressed father the following day. Ofri Bibas-Levy stated: “I couldn’t believe that Yarden could handle and survive this thing they told him, so I thought I’m losing him now.”
In the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which went into force on Sunday following nearly 15 months of Israel’s military incursion in the Gaza Strip, Yarden Bibas is also scheduled to be released. According to official estimates, more over 47,000 people have died since the war started, which started when Hamas launched multipronged attacks against Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 captive, according to health officials in the Palestinian enclave.
“I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, if he ate today, if he showered, if somebody is torturing him, if he’s sick, if he’s well,” Bibas-Levy said, adding that she worries about her younger brother every single second of every day. I have no knowledge.
She was speaking on the outskirts of what is known as Hostage Square, a plaza in the heart of Tel Aviv where relatives of people detained by Hamas have been gathering for 15 months to demand their release.
In celebration of Kfir’s second birthday, many people in the audience carried plush animals, which was a nod to the pink elephant he is holding on his captive poster.
The family had made numerous unsuccessful searches of the Nir Oz wreckage in an attempt to locate Kfir’s elephant. Then it appeared in a nursery nook a few days before the latest ceasefire was signed.
In Bibas-Levy’s words, it was quite emotional. And perhaps a positive indication.