On October 7, 2023, mother Shiri (32), father Yarden (34), son Ariel (4), and baby Kfir (9 months) Bibas were taken hostage from their home in Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists. Kfir, at the time just nine months old and spent his first birthday captive in Gaza, is the youngest known hostage. The Bibas family is the only family still held captive together. Tragically, Shiri’s parents were both burned alive in their homes in the same town.
Ofri Bibas, Yarden’s sister, expressed her concerns, saying “We don’t know where they’re being held. From what we know, they’re kept underground. We’re very worried about the 10-month-old baby, who relies mainly on formula. We call on the Israeli government, as well as Qatar, Egypt, and everyone involved in these negotiations, to do everything possible to include our family in these efforts and to release them as soon as possible.”
Yifat Zailer, Shiri’s cousin, added, “The video was posted on the official Hostage and Missing Families Forum and then removed for being ‘political.’ Saying ‘bring the Bibas family back’ is political. I’m shocked by the one-sidedness of their position. To think that the effort to free a one-year-old, a four-year-old, and their parents from a terrorist group is seen as a political stance rather than as a human rights issue is appalling. I’m done with TikTok.”
The faces of the Bibas family have become symbols of every person brutally abducted from their homes on October 7th. This family, this unit, should be together and safe. The call to “bring them back home now” is a phrase we, Jews, must cling to and pray it will soon become a reality.
It has now been 390 days since the attack on October 7th, 2023, and we continue to daven for the return of the Bibas family and the remaining hostages still in Gaza.
Bring them home now!
By: Simcha Rosenberg (10th)
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