Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, who were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip, have been laid to rest in Israel, local media reported on Wednesday, as Hamas announced the first phase of the fragile ceasefire has been salvaged.
The remains of Shiri and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, were buried at a cemetery near their home in the Nir Oz kibbutz, the reports said.
The funeral ceremony was held in private upon request by the family, but the eulogies were broadcast live on television.
Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the boys’ father who was released from the Gaza Strip at the beginning of February, addressed the crowd while fighting back tears.
“Shiri, I love you and will always love you,” Yarden, accompanied by his sister at the podium, said in his eulogy.
“You are the best wife and mother there could be,” he said.
Yarden also apologized to his children for not having protected them during the attack on the kibbutz.
The Bibas family was among some 250 people abducted to the Gaza Strip during the unprecedented attacks led by Palestinian extremist group Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, with left some 1,200 people dead, including Shiri Bibas’ parents.
The massacre triggered the latest Gaza war, in which close to 50,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Tens of thousands watch funeral procession
Tens of thousands of people lined the route of a public funeral procession for Shiri, Kfir and Ariel, whose coffins were transported from the greater Tel Aviv area to southern Israel on Wednesday morning, Israeli news site ynet reported.
According to eyewitnesses, many people brought orange balloons in memory of the two ginger-haired boys Kfir and Ariel, who at the time of their abduction were only 9 months and 4 years old, making them the youngest hostages kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Many people held up signs simply saying “Sorry.” A woman who attended the procession told dpa that many onlookers were fighting back tears.
Shiri Bibas’ body was handed over by Hamas on Friday, one day after the remains of her children. Another coffin that Hamas initially handed over to the Red Cross alongside the children contained the body of another, unknown woman.
The mix-up – whether deliberate or accidental – caused great outrage in Israel.
Following a forensic examination of the bodies, the military announced that the two children had been brutally murdered by the kidnappers in November 2023. Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The display of the coffins by Hamas was sharply criticized internationally, after they were laid out on a stage amid cheering onlookers and masked fighters while loud music played.
Hamas announces deal on stalled ceasefire
Hamas on Tuesday said it has reached an agreement with Israel for the simultaneous release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners by Israel and the return of four Israeli hostages’ bodies by Hamas.
The deal aims to break the deadlock that had threatened to derail the ceasefire agreement before its first phase is completed.
Hamas said the planned release of Palestinian prisoners – halted by Israel days earlier – would now take place alongside the handover of the bodies of Israeli hostages.
The group did not specify when the exchange would happen. There was initially no official confirmation from Israel.
However, several Israeli media outlets, citing Israeli officials, confirmed the agreement between the two warring parties announced by Hamas.
Israeli media had initially reported that the bodies of four Israeli hostages were to be handed over on Wednesday. Hamas sources in the Gaza Strip said that the bodies would now be handed over late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Early on Sunday, Israel halted the planned release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners outlined in the ceasefire deal, stating that Hamas must first guarantee an end to what it described as “humiliating ceremonies” surrounding the release of Israeli hostages.
The Hamas-allied al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades (Brigades of Saladin the Victorious) said on Wednesday that they will turn over the body of a 50-year-old Israeli on Thursday, with Israeli media reporting that the handover is part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
