The funerals of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, murdered in Hamas captivity, will be held on Wednesday. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum invited the Israeli public to stand along the funeral procession's route waving Israeli flags. At the family's request, the ceremony will be private, but eulogies will be broadcast at 11:30 a.m. local time. No government officials were invited.
Shiri Bibas' body was identified at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute Friday overnight after Hamas delayed transferring it to the Red Cross by a day. Initially, Hamas sent a coffin containing a Palestinian woman's body and claimed Bibas' remains "may have mixed with others."
A day earlier, the bodies of her young sons, Kfir and Ariel, were identified. According to IDF intelligence and forensic evidence, the three were murdered by their captors in the early weeks of the war.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said they were "murdered by terrorists in cold blood," refuting Hamas' claims that they died in an airstrike. "The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys, they killed them with their bare hands," he said, adding that efforts were made to conceal the crime.
Kibbutz Nir Oz, the family's home town, said in a statement that Shiri, 32 at the time of her abduction, was born and raised there. She worked in the kibbutz's accounting department and previously in local education. "Shiri, Yarden, Ariel and Kfir loved their home in Nir Oz — the porch, the grass — where they shared countless happy moments as a family before being kidnapped on October 7," the statement read.
Her family added, "For 16 months, we were looking for certainty. Now there’s no comfort, but we hope this brings some closure."
Yarden's sister, Ofri Bibas, spoke about his grief after his family's bodies were identified. "In just two weeks, we went from immense joy over Yarden's return to deep sorrow and shock over Shiri and the children's murder in captivity," she said.
She noted that Yarden is struggling with the media attention and the weight of the tragedy. "He swings between relief at surviving hell and unbearable loss. He often wonders how Shiri would react to all this — but Shiri isn’t here to go through it with him."
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The family reiterated their request for a private funeral, attended only by relatives and invited guests. The government informed ministers that the family asked politicians not to attend the funeral or the mourning period.
The Eshkol Regional Council urged the public to respect the family's wishes. "To allow the family to say goodbye in the most personal and intimate way and due to space limitations, we ask everyone to honor their choice," the council said.
Large police and security forces will be stationed around the procession and the public is advised to follow instructions. The Bibas family thanked everyone "for the love support and shared grief."
The funeral of Oded Lifshitz will take place on Tuesday, February 25, at 2:00 p.m. local time at Kibbutz Nir Oz’s cemetery. Lifshitz, 83, was identified at Israel’s forensic institute after 503 days in Gaza. He was kidnapped from his Nir Oz home and murdered in captivity.
He was injured while trying to close his shelter door on October 7 and abducted along with his wife, Yocheved, who was released in a November 2023 hostage deal. According to her testimony, terrorists dressed him in Muslim garments.
Lifshitz, one of Nir Oz's founders, arrived in the kibbutz in 1956. A peace activist, he transported Palestinian cancer patients from Gaza for treatment in Israel. "My father's life ended in a tragic and humiliating way," said his son, Yizhar. "His home was burned, his wife was beaten and kidnapped before his eyes. Terrible. Alone, without family, without his children, without closure."