‘Shiri, everyone knows and loves us—you can’t imagine how surreal all this madness is. Shiri, people tell me they’ll always be by my side, but they’re not you. So please stay close to me and don’t go far! Shiri, this is the closest I’ve been to you since 7 October, and I can’t kiss or hug you, and it’s breaking me! Shiri, please watch over me…Protect me from bad decisions. Shield me from harmful things and protect me from myself. Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness. Mishmish, I love you!’ These were the heartbreaking words of Yarden Bibas in his final tribute to his wife, Shiri Bibas, and their two children, Ariel (4) and Kfir (9 months), who were brutally kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and murdered in cold blood roughly one month into their captivity.
Yarden was separated from his family during his captivity and spent 484 days in the hell of Hamas. He was recently released on 7 February; however, unlike many other hostages, Yarden was no longer able to hug his loved ones—his family: Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir—upon his return. Although he returned to his home country, which waited for him and gave him all the love they could, with teary eyes, he phrased in his tribute to his wife: ‘Shiri, people tell me they’ll always be by my side, but they’re not you.’
On 26 February, the day of the funeral of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, the nation of Israel shared Yarden’s unbearable pain as tens of thousands of Israelis went to the streets and lined highways sobbing and holding flags, orange balloons and signs saying ‘forgive us’ as the caskets holding the bodies of Shiri and her two young sons made their way along the 100-kilometre (60 miles) route from central Israel to the cemetery. The footage of the terrified Shiri Bibas clutching her two sons as they were taken to Gaza by militants is burned into the country’s collective memory.
Yarden’s wife and their two children were buried in a private ceremony near Kibbutz Nir Oz near Gaza, where they were living before they were abducted. The three Israelis who were kidnapped and murdered only because they were Jewish were buried in a joint grave next to Shiri’s parents, who were also murdered by Hamas on 7 October.
‘I asked if we should fight or surrender. You said fight, so I fought’
‘Do you remember our last decision together? In the safe room, I asked if we should fight or surrender. You said fight, so I fought,’ Yarden said in his tribute to his wife and added: ‘Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have fought.’ He also spoke of his elder son, Ariel: ‘I hope you know I thought about you every day, every minute. I’m sure you’re making all the angels laugh with your silly jokes and impressions,’ he said, envisioning his son in paradise. ‘I hope there are plenty of butterflies for you to watch, just like you did during our picnics.’ Yarden also addressed his youngest son. ‘Kfir, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you better,’ he said. ‘I miss nibbling on you and hearing your laughter,’ Yarden concluded.
In memory of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, Budapest paid tribute to the innocent victims of Hamas’s violence on the evening of 26 February. The city’s main bridge, the Chain Bridge, was illuminated with orange lights, and candles were lit in Jerusalem Park, which is located nearby. This gesture joined many major cities around the world in mourning. Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony said on his Facebook page: ‘A mother, Shiri, two young children, Ariel, and Kfir, who is just nine months old. We have no words for this barbarity. While only words remain. And these cannot say anything other than that humanity and togetherness must always be stronger than hatred.’
Ben Shapiro: ‘Remember, they were taken by Gazan civilians. This is what true evil sounds like’
Although Hamas claimed that Ariel and Kfir were killed in an Israeli airstrike, the IDF revealed after a forensic analysis and autopsy that the two little boys did not die of malnutrition and were apparently murdered with cold, bare hands roughly one month into their captivity. As the famous political commentator and co-founder of Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro, highlighted in his opinion article: ‘Hamas mutilated the bodies to make it look as though they were not, in fact, beaten or strangled to death.’ Then he added: ‘Remember, they were taken by people not in Hamas uniforms. They were taken by Gazan civilians. This is what evil sounds like. True evil.’ As if the barbarity of kidnapping an entire family and murdering them in cold blood wasn’t barbaric enough, Hamas went even further. They organized an actual parade, displaying the coffins of Shiri, Ariel, Kfir and Oded Lifshitz labelled with the date of their abduction—October 7 2023—while celebratory music played. Not only did representatives from various terrorist groups, including Fatah—the military wing of the Palestinian Authority, which governs Judea and Samaria—attend, but a massive crowd of families, including children and even babies, gathered to cheer and celebrate over the dead bodies of infants. Gazan children also came on stage to dance, smile, cheer and sing where the babies’ bodies had been just one second prior.
After the humiliating parade, when the IDF finally received the coffins, they were locked, and they had to run them through metal detectors to ensure they were not booby-trapped with bombs. Hamas gave them keys to the locks of the coffins, but as expected, the keys did not match the locks. Then, when Israel finally was able to open the coffins, they found them filled with leaflets of Hamas propaganda. As a final indignity, Israel had to do forensic analysis on the charred bodies of a baby, a toddler and a mom, where they found out that the body that was supposed to be Shiri Bibas was not hers, as Hamas put in an unknown Gazan woman in place of her remains. Hamas, two days later, handed over Shiri’s body to the IDF.
‘Hostages revealed the horror they had to endure during captivity: beatings, starvation, sexual violence, brainwashing’
The body of Oded Lifshitz was returned to Israel by Hamas, along with that of the Bibas family. Oded, a veteran journalist and long-time advocate for Palestinian rights, was a founder of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived before being abducted and ultimately killed by Hamas. He was taken hostage at the age of 83 from his home by Palestinian terrorists during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel alongside his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz (85), who was released from captivity after 16 days.
To Defend Hamas Is to Defend Barbarism
As a Jerusalem Post article pointed out, the tragedy of the Bibas family is not just a personal catastrophe but also a stark reminder of the true nature of Hamas. This tragedy again revealed that Hamas members aren’t freedom or resistance fighters but are monsters who deliberately target civilians, murder children, and inflict maximum pain and psychological torture on their victims. As more hostages were released, each of them revealed the horror they had to endure during their Hamas captivity: beatings, starvation, sexual violence, brainwashing and the constant fear of execution. Yarden Bibas recounted that during his captivity, he was told by his captors that converting to Islam would lead to better treatment. He firmly replied: ‘I was born a Jew, and I will die a Jew.’ After refusing, they denied him food for two days.
Hamas engages in conflict not as a military force; it systematically commits war crimes which stem from a depraved Nazi ideology that glorifies violence and revels in suffering. The murder of Shiri and her children, the torture Yarden endured, and the ongoing captivity of other hostages—are the essence of Hamas’s behaviour. Hamas builds terror tunnels instead of schools, uses hospitals as military headquarters, and siphons humanitarian aid to fuel its war machine. Their governance has led to the suffering of Gaza’s civilians while benefiting their leadership. As the Jerusalem Post article phrased: ‘To defend Hamas is to defend barbarism. To support Hamas is to sabotage any hope for peace in the region.’
As former Israeli ambassador to the UN and the US Gilad Erdan rightfully pointed out in his X post: ‘Even in Nazi Germany, there were Germans who saved Jews. Not a single Gazan saved a single hostage.’ Erdan added: ‘Many many “innocent” Gazans took part in the kidnapping & murder, and many more came out today and on 7 October to celebrate the return of Jewish babies in coffins.’
A Nation United in Grief: No Words Can Heal Our Aching Hearts
In his heartfelt tribute to the Bibas family, Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote the following: ‘Beloved Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel. Know that from the day you were torn from us, we never stopped praying, waiting, crying, hoping against hope that you would come back to us, alive. That along with brave Yarden, who came back to us so recently from the valley of the shadow of death, you, too, would return to your beautiful, warm home. Here, now, there are no words that can heal our aching hearts. We refuse to be comforted.’ And addressed the Bibas family: ‘Dear Yarden and dear Bibas, Silverman and Sitton families: We are all crying with you. We are all embracing you. We are all broken alongside you. As the president of the State of Israel, on behalf of the State of Israel, I ask for your forgiveness. Forgiveness for not fulfilling our duty. Forgiveness for not protecting your loved ones on that dark day. Forgiveness for not saving them, for not getting them home safely.’
The colour of orange will never mean the same—it will forever be a haunting reminder of two innocent, ginger-haired boys murdered simply because they were Jewish. Following the horrors of the Holocaust, the world vowed ‘never again’; however, Hamas’s barbarity revealed that little has changed, and this promise has become nothing more than an empty slogan. ‘Never again’ was supposed to be a pledge that the collective strength of humanity would stand as a wall with the Jewish people against such horrors. And yet, on 26 February, we were confronted with the heartbreaking image of the Bibas boys’ coffin—a deafening cry which roars the painful fact that ‘never again’ is NOW.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, may your memory be a blessing. We will never ever forget you. Yarden, as President Herzog phrased: ‘We’re crying with you, we are all embracing you,’ and although your pain must be unbearable and cannot be fathomed, ‘we are all broken alongside you.’
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