Relatives of the Bibas family on Friday said they face “very complex days” — with Yarden, 35, set to be released by Hamas on Saturday, but his wife Shiri, 34, and their sons Ariel, 5, and Kfir, 2, still held hostage in Gaza.
“Our Yarden is set to return tomorrow and we are all so excited, but Shiri and the children have not yet returned. The emotions are mixed, and we are facing very complex days,” relatives said in a statement.
“Please protect Yarden’s heart, and respect his privacy and that of his family in the forthcoming period,” they urged, adding. “We love you, dear people of Israel and our amazing supporters from all over the world.”
Fears for the fates of Shira, Ariel and Kfir Bibas have intensified in recent days, since they are still held in Gaza after all living children and women were supposed to have been freed.
Yarden Bibas, Shiri and the two children were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led invasion and slaughter in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Kfir was 10 months old, and Ariel was 4 at the time. Yarden was wounded during his kidnapping and was seen being abducted to Gaza separately from his wife and children.
Hamas claimed in the past that Shiri and the two boys were killed in captivity. Israel has not confirmed this claim, but has expressed “grave concern” for their fate.
Earlier this week, Israel reportedly demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of Shiri and the two small boys, who are all on the list of 33 hostages being returned in the first, 42-day phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal.
Living women and children were supposed to be freed first under the current ceasefire-hostage deal, followed by injured and infirm men and men over 50.
Hamas has said that 15 of the 23 hostages yet to be returned under the current phase are alive, without offering specifics on the condition of individuals, and that eight are dead. Israel has said that this matches its own information.
Hours after the abduction of the Bibas family on Oct. 7, relatives saw a video circulating of Shiri, holding both boys in her arms, a look of terror on her face as she was surrounded by terrorists, her boys facing her chest, a blanket covering them.
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The Bibas relatives subsequently found a video of Yarden, injured and with his head bloody, surrounded by terrorists, being taken to Gaza.
Ariel and Kfir are the only children left in Gaza, after the November 2023 deal that saw the release of more than 100 of the people seized in the attack. Shiri is now the only woman.
In November 2023, the IDF said that the Bibas family had been transferred by Hamas to another Palestinian terror group, in Khan Younis. That same month, Hamas released a video indicating Yarden was alive and relating to what his captors were telling him about the status of his family. It was branded a “propaganda video” by the IDF, and was not published by Israeli media.
Hamas that month issued an unverified claim that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir had been killed in an Israeli strike. The IDF said at the time it was looking into what it called the “cruel and inhumane” claim.
In February 2024, the IDF released what it said was recently discovered footage showing Shiri Bibas and her two young children surrounded by gunmen in the Gaza Strip hours after they were abducted, and expressed serious concern for the captive family.
Relatives stated Monday that they are still holding onto hope that the Bibas family will return alive from captivity.
“We said then, and we say now: We hold on to hope and continue waiting for their return. We await clarity regarding their condition,” the wider family said in a statement.