Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, was expected to release Shiri Bibas (32) and her children, Ariel Bibas (4) and Kfir Bibas (10 months old), who were abducted on October 7 in Kibbutz Nir Oz. However, they violated the truce agreement with Israel this week by failing to release the hostages. The truce, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, collapsed as Hamas did not provide a list of hostages for release and resumed hostilities, launching rockets towards Israeli territory and claiming responsibility for a terror attack in Jerusalem.
In a Friday briefing, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated that Hamas was expected to release members of the Bibas family from Gaza as part of the temporary ceasefire deal. However, Hamas chose to break the agreement. “The Bibas family—it’s an incident we have been following with intelligence and operationally since the beginning of the fighting,” said Hagari in response to a question.
This week, Hamas made an unverified claim that the mother and children were killed in an Israeli bombardment. As part of the sixth round of hostage releases, Hamas offered to return three corpses to Israel. However, it remains unclear whose remains they were referring to. a terrorist organization
Gaza terror groups have made such claims regarding hostages in the past, seen as part of a psychological warfare campaign.
On Wednesday, the IDF said it had notified the family that it was investigating the “cruel and inhumane” claim that the three were dead and slammed Hamas’s “psychological terrorism.”