Hamas terrorists brutally killed Israeli brothers Ariel and Kfir Bibas with their hands, Israel confirmed today. This comes in stark contrast to the terror group’s previous claim that the two were victims of an Israeli airstrike.
“Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an official statement on X.
“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands.”
“Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities.”
The devastating news was revealed after the two boys’ remains were found among the four coffins returned to Israel as part of the ceasefire agreement. The remains were later confirmed to be those of Ariel and Kfir on Thursday, according to Israeli officials.
“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,” said an IDF spokesperson.
The Bibas family, who became global symbols of Israeli hostages’ suffering, had held out hope that the boys and their mother, Shiri, were still alive after they were kidnapped by Hamas during the attack that began the war.
Hamas, without providing any evidence, had claimed in November 2023 that the two children, aged 4 and 10 months, and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Israel officially confirmed the deaths only this week after revealing that the boys and their mother were among four hostages Hamas had agreed to release on Thursday.
While Israeli officials confirmed the identification of the two boys and another hostage, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, the fourth coffin, which was supposed to contain Shiri Bibas, held an “anonymous, unidentified body.”
“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,” said officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu vowed to take action against what he called a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of acting “in an unspeakably cynical manner” by placing the unidentified remains in the coffin instead of Shiri Bibas.
“We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement,” he stated.
{Matzav.com}