An environmental memorial honoring Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, was inaugurated Thursday in a grove near Kibbutz Tze’elim, with the family, President Isaac Herzog and western Negev residents attending.
The installation, called 'Bibas Footprints,' commemorates Shiri and the children, who were kidnapped from their home in Nir Oz during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, murdered in captivity and returned for burial in February 2025. The site is located near Tze’elim, where Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and the children’s father, grew up. Yarden was also abducted on October 7 and held by Hamas for 484 days before his release.
Designed by architect Zvika Pasternak, the memorial uses concrete footprints to symbolize the family’s presence and absence. Small prints represent Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was taken. Nearby handprints form the shape of a crawling baby’s trail. The footprints sit within six nested circles, a motif Pasternak said reflects what was left behind and the confinement of the kidnapping.
The project was initiated by Boaz Kretchmer, a member of Kibbutz Tze’elim, in partnership with the Bibas family and local volunteers. It was built with support from the Shikma Besor Drainage and River Authority, which has expanded its work since the attack to include memorial sites across the region.
Ofri Bibas, Yarden’s sister, said the installation captures both grief and memory. She described Tze’elim as a place that once felt safe but has become painful since the loss, adding that the footprints “illustrate the absence, the enormous void,” while also suggesting a moment of life frozen in time.
Herzog told the family the story of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir has become a global symbol of the October 7 atrocities. He said their images are recognized worldwide and promised they would not be forgotten. Speaking directly to Yarden, Herzog praised his resilience and said the memorial’s simplicity conveys the family’s story with “clean, modest and right” symbolism.
Pasternak said he sought a personal language for the site, similar to other memorial projects he has designed, and found it in the footprints. “A concrete circle, six circles and three pairs of footprints, and that’s it,” he said, describing the installation as minimalist and integrated into the landscape.
Dr. Nehemya Shachaf, head of the river authority, said the group’s mission has taken on new meaning since October 7, combining environmental rehabilitation with places of remembrance and hope. Eshkol Regional Council chief Michal Uziahu said the Bibas family did not choose to become a symbol but that the region would ensure their memory stands for life as well as loss.
The memorial is open to the public in the grove beside Kibbutz Tze’elim, along the Derech HaSadot hiking trail.
First published: 23:17, 12.05.25