Three days after marking one-year since the Hamas invasion of Israel, another grim milestone in the Israel-Hamas war was observed: Yarden Bibas, a father and husband, has become the first person to have a second birthday in captivity in Gaza.
He is 35.
Yarden’s wife Shiri and two young children Ariel and Kfir were kidnapped separately. The family has been held captive by Hamas for more than a year though not together. Kfir, abducted with Shiri and his brother, was 9 months old at the time and turned 1 as a hostage.
Shiri’s parents, Margit and Yossi Silverman, were murdered that day.
The family lives on Kibbutz Nir Oz and are among 29 hostages from the community. Ariel and Kfir are the only remaining children among the hostages. A total of 251 people were abducted into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 and 101 still remain, some of whom were dead or have since died in captivity.
In an interview organized by MediaCentral and the Hostage Families Forum earlier this month, family members talked about how they are coping with loss while also trying to keep the hostages’ plight at the forefront of public awareness.
“We still have families being held by Hamas, by a terrorist organization,” said Ofri Bibas-Levy, sister of Yarden Bibas.
She grapples with the uncertainty of the family’s situation while struggling to do mundane things and trying to balance this exacting situation with caring for children including an infant born four months ago. Ofri only learned she was pregnant two weeks after the Hamas invasion.
“Every time I hear a car passing on this road my heart skips a beat because I’m sure its a car with official officers coming to tell me that my family is dead,” she said. “Unfortunately for me its the most common scenario going through my head instead of them coming to tell me they were rescued in some kind of army operation or something.”
“For an entire year you have a stone sitting on your heart. You can’t breathe properly. I can’t do my routine. I’m not working for the last year. My heart and my thoughts are always with them.”
Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, said the exhausting struggle of advocating for the hostages has prevented them from dealing with another type of loss—the murder of her aunt and uncle, Shiri’s parents.
Videos of Shiri and the boys being hustled into Khan Yunis were disseminated after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. The only other information the family said they have regarding the Bibas family was from a psychological warfare video released by Hamas of Yarden who was forced to say that his family was killed by Israeli bombs—something the Israeli army said they cannot confirm.
The dire condition of hostages in Gaza, however, is a major concern especially after reports from hostages who have been freed or the malnourished bodies of the six hostages murdered and recovered by the Israeli army several weeks ago.
More than a year later, and now with the attention of the war turning toward the north, the relatives of the Bibas family are struggling even more.
“It feels like time has passed so quickly and yet it feels like 100 years,” Yifat said.
“We are not people of war and we don’t celebrate death. And what happened to us, as a family, we are in our darkest time and we can still find compassion and we ask this compassion from the world,” she pleaded.
On Wednesday, the family held an event at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv marking Yarden’s birthday which is Oct. 10.
“We’re not a family that usually makes a big fuss about birthdays. We’d gather for dinner and cake. Shiri always prepares an extravagant cake for you and a crown like the ones children wear in kindergarten,” Ofri said. “How distant does that reality feel now? It’s an unimaginable extreme.”
During the panel, Yifat said the families and most Israelis are hoping and pushing for a ceasefire, which they believe is the best way to get their loved ones back home. Such a solution though has become elusive.
“We feel like some sort of failure,” she said through tears.
