Hostages Held in Gaza: 70; IDF Soldiers Lost: 846
[WARNING] Tonight’s special update contains emotional, graphic, and very difficult videos and images. I felt it was important to share what we know about the fate of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshiz, specifically that one of the four bodies received today was not that of Shiri Bibas. She continues to remain unaccounted for. What we saw today was a terrible and tragic moment that only extends the horrors of October 7th and demonstrates to the world (yet again!) the monsters that Israel must face.
Am Israel Chai (the people of Israel live)!
[MUST READ] The IDF released the following statement this evening:
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Following the completion of the identification process by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with the Israel Police, IDF representatives informed the Bibas family that their loved ones, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, have been identified.
According to the assessment of professional officials, based on the intelligence available to us and forensic findings from the identification process, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were brutally murdered by terrorists in captivity in November 2023.
During the identification process, it was determined that the additional body received is not that of Shiri Bibas, and no match was found for any other hostage. This is an anonymous, unidentified body.
This is a violation of utmost severity by the Hamas terrorist organization, which is obligated under the agreement to return four deceased hostages. We demand that Hamas return Shiri home along with all our hostages.
Ariel Bibas was four years old at the time of his death, and Kfir Bibas was ten months old at the time of his death. They were abducted with their mother, Shiri Bibas, from their home in Nir Oz. Yarden Bibas, Ariel and Kfir’s father, went out to protect them and was abducted prior to the abduction of Shiri and the children. Yarden returned as part of the agreement for the return of the hostages on February 1, 2025.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to the Bibas family during this incredibly difficult time and remain committed to doing everything possible to ensure Shiri and all the hostages are brought home at the earliest opportunity.
Israeli columnist Nadav Eyal wrote this tonight which I thought was worth sharing:
Most Israelis are still unaware of Hamas’s latest act of unimaginable depravity. In a few hours, they will wake up to the horrifying news that the Bibas children were brutally murdered, while Hamas cynically sent back the body of an unrelated woman, claiming she was their mother.
Hamas is beyond a travesty—it embodies atrocities that defy definition. If they believe such acts will weaken Israeli society, they are making the classic mistake of authoritarians and fanatics. In reality, the resolve to dismantle their rule is only strengthening.
As for those in the West who supported them – whether openly or through silent backing – your moral failure will follow you for life.
**Following the somber event that took place in the morning, three empty buses exploded in quick succession in parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburbs in what police said was a suspected terror attack, according to the Times of Israel. Ynet reports that the explosion was part of a coordinated and premeditated attack targeting three buses in different locations, with additional bombs discovered in other locations but not detonated (one bomb was found at the ‘Yamit 2000’ children’s water park in Southern Tel Aviv). According to a Channel 12 news report, the devices were slated to explode on Friday morning, when the buses were in use, but were set off early. It is speculated that the timers were incorrectly set to PM as opposed to AM, thankfully avoiding a potential mass casualty terror attack. Officials confirmed that improvised explosive devices (IEDs), each weighing around 5 kilograms (11 pounds), had been placed on multiple buses. The explosives were marked with the phrase “Revenge for Tulkarm.” A Hamas-linked group in the West Bank later hinted at responsibility.**
- On October 7, 2023, during a coordinated attack by Hamas on Israel, the Bibas family—comprising mother and father Shiri and Yarden, and their two young sons, Ariel (4) and Kfir (9 months)—were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. This event made Kfir the youngest hostage ever taken during the war.
- While Yarden was separated and later released earlier this month, Shiri and the children remained unaccounted for until today. Hamas claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike shortly after their capture, but this claim lacked any verification. It has since been verified through today’s forensic analysis that the children were brutally murdered.
- Today, on February 20, under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas returned the bodies, believed to be those of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir to Israel.
- Four bodies, the 84-year-old Oded Lifshiz and the three bodies from the Bibas family, including a 4 year old and a 9 month old, were presented in a public ceremony in Gaza, where black coffins draped in Israeli flags were paraded before a crowd of cheering Palestinians. People were celebrating, treating the moment as a spectacle rather than a solemn return of murdered civilians.
- A massive banner displayed a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire, feeding off the blood of Palestinian children—implying that Israel, not Hamas, was responsible for the deaths. Hamas soldiers then stood around the coffins holding weapons to show some sort of “victory” against Israel.
- Hamas placed stickers on each coffin that says “date of arrest October 7, 2023” and sent the bodies back in locked coffins and with keys that did not work. The IDF had to scan the coffins for bombs or booby traps. The terror group inserted additional propaganda material into the coffins it handed back to Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
- Joe Truzman with FDD writes: At least seven terrorist organizations were involved in the abhorrent event where the bodies of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz were handed over to the Red Cross earlier today.
Watch as vehicles carrying the bodies of Oded, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir are returned to Israel.
