Yarden Bibas has returned to his homeland. And lost, perhaps forever, his wife and children. Shortly after their capture, Hamas declared that they had been killed by an Israeli air strike. The army long denied having any information confirming their capture, before its spokesman, Daniel Hagari, declared on January 26 that he had “serious concerns” about their fate.
Freed on the morning of Saturday, February 1, along with two other hostages, 54-year-old French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon and 65-year-old American Keith Siegel, apparently in good health, 35-year-old Bibas first met his sister and father at one of the exits from the Gaza Strip. Then, in the helicopter taking him to Tel Aviv’s Sheba hospital, he wrote these words on a slate: “I thank the whole people of Israel for the support and help. I have heard from my family that you fought for me and I want to say thank you very much. I appreciate it a lot, I don’t take it for granted. Happy birthday, Grandpa!” But no word about his wife and two children. And all of Israel hangs on the question: Are they alive?
The family lived on the kibbutz of Nir Oz, the area worst hit by the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Of the 400 inhabitants, 42 were killed and 80 taken hostage. Shiri, the mother, was 32 years old, and the two sons, Ariel and Kfir, were respectively 4 years and 9 months old.
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