Nir Oz resident Shiri Bibas was murdered while held captive in Gaza, the kibbutz announced early Saturday morning, after Hamas returned her body to Israel late the previous night.
“With pain and deep sorrow, Kibbutz Nir Oz announces the murder of Shiri Bibas, may her memory be a blessing, who was kidnapped from her home,” according to a statement from the community.
On Thursday, Hamas returned the bodies of Shiri’s children, Kfir and Ariel, along with that of octogenarian Oded Lifshitz. However, the fourth body freed from Gaza, which Hamas said was that of Shiri Bibis, was found to belong to an unidentified woman.
The Palestinian terrorist group on Friday night handed over Shiri’s body to the Red Cross, which in turn delivered the corpse to Israel for identification.
“Shiri is brought home after 505 days,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Saturday.
“Shiri Bibas was abducted at the age of 32, along with her two young boys from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. On October 7, [2023], the world held its breath in agony, watching the horrific images of Shiri, holding Ariel and Kfir in her arms, as she was abducted at gunpoint,” it continued.
“Today, we all mourn the loss of this lioness mother, who fiercely defended her sons until the very end.”
The forum subsequently released a statement on behalf of the Bibas family.
“Following the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine [in Tel Aviv], we received this morning the news we had dreaded—our Shiri was murdered in captivity and has now returned home to her sons, husband, sister and all her family for rest.
“Despite our fears about their fate, we continued to hope that we would get to embrace them, and now we are in pain and heartbroken,” continued the statement. “For 16 months we sought certainty, and now that it’s here, it brings no comfort, though we hope it marks the beginning of closure.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, Gazan terrorists stormed Nir Oz. They breached the Bibas family home’s door using a drill and other equipment and entered the safe room where the four were hiding. Father Yarden reported the attack to his wider family in real-time, texting that “it feels like the end.”
He attempted to defend the family with his personal weapon but was overwhelmed. In photos, he can be seen being abducted on a motorcycle between two terrorists, wounded and bleeding from his head.
The video of Shiri’s kidnapping—terrified and trying to protect her two children with her arms as she was surrounded by masked men with weapons—became a symbol of the Oct. 7 massacre. Shiri’s parents, Yossi and Margit Silberman, were murdered that day.
Yarden Bibas was freed on Feb. 1 after 484 days in Hamas captivity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday morning eulogized the slain hostages and vowed to hold Palestinian terrorists accountable.
“The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds. Not only did they kidnap the father, Yarden Bibas, the young mother, Shiri, and their two small babies. In an unspeakably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri to her little children, the little angels, and they put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin,” said Netanyahu in a video message to the nation.
“We will work resolutely to bring Shiri home together with all our abductees—both living and dead—and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and evil violation of the [ceasefire] agreement,” he added.
Later on Saturday, Hamas is due to free hostages Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen, who were all kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who suffer from mental illness and entered the Strip on their volition more than a decade ago.
