It is a sad day in Israel

After more than 500 days in captivity, the bodies of the young Bibas boys, Kfir and Ariel, and their mother Shiri have been returned to Israel. Also the body of Oded Lifshitz, an 84-year-old former journalist and activist for Arabs (ironically that didn’t matter much to Hamas) has been returned.

Oded Lifshitz (left); Shiri Bibas, Kfir Bibas and Ariel Bibas (Amiram Oren/Courtesy)

Israelis and good people all over the world had hoped the Bibas family would come home alive. In the end, only the father, Yarden, survived and was recently released.

Hamas conducted another sham release ceremony, with masked soldiers carrying the four coffins past onlookers. 

Red Cross vehicles leave after receiving coffins apparently containing the bodies of four Israeli hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two young children Kfir and Ariel, and Oded Lifshitz, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025 (Screenshot/YouTube)

Israeli forensic teams have confirmed the identity of Lifshitz and that he was murdered by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) a year ago. They are working to quickly identify the other three deceased, presumably Shiri and her two sons; meanwhile, our nation mourns.

Officers salute a convoy of IDF vehicles, escorted by the Israel Police, carrying coffins apparently containing the remains of four hostages to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in central Israel, February 20, 2025. (Israel Police)

No one captured the hearts of Israelis since Oct 7, 2023, more than the red-headed Bibas boys.