Goodbye Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir

On 7 October 2023, the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza Strip was the scene of a devastating attack by the Gazan terrorist group Hamas. Among the hostages taken were the Bibas family: Shiri, 33, of Argentina; her husband Yarden; and their two young children, Ariel (4 years old) and Kfir (just 9 months).¹ During the attack, Shiri and the children were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, while Yarden was kidnapped separately. Both kidnappings were recorded in the videos broadcast by the terrorists themselves. Shiri’s parents, José Luis Silberman and Marguit Schneider, of Argentine and Peruvian origin respectively, were killed in the attack. Three generations of the same family were either killed or taken hostage. 

After more than a year in captivity, Yarden was released on February 1, 2025. However, his release was marked by the tragic news that his wife and children had been killed in cold blood during their captivity.  

Hamas claimed that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir were killed in an Israeli bombing in November 2023, but autopsies in Israel indicated otherwise. Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that forensic analysis of the remains of the children Ariel and Kfir Bibas showed that the children were not shot, but they were killed by the terrorists’ hands. Hagari added that the terrorists then committed horrible acts to cover up the atrocities to make it appear that their deaths were the result of an air strike. In the autopsy however, there were no signs of shrapnel!  

Hagari shared forensic evidence and intelligence information with his partners around the world for their own verification. Hagari revealed that Yarden Bibas (father of Ariel and Kfir, and Shiri’s husband) asked him last night to let everyone know and be shocked at the way they murdered his children. The murder of children goes against any ethical, moral, and religious norm, including Islam. 

Thus, Hagari categorically denied the version of Hamas and the Salafist group directly responsible for his abduction. Since November 2023, these groups claimed that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas were killed in an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip. 

From an emuna outlook, we know that events as painful as these, which deeply defy human understanding, ultimately come from Hashem and are for a greater good that pain might not allow us to perceive. Judaism teaches that, even during the most heinous suffering, we must maintain trust in God and in His righteousness, even if we cannot always understand His ways. This commitment to emuna and hope is essential to face tragedies as heartbreaking as this and so many others that we have experienced since the October 7 massacre. 

Moreover, we have emuna in the geulah (full redemption). We have emuna that, despite the current tragedies, Am Israel and the whole world are heading for an era of peace and justice under Hashem’s Kingship. The loss of the Bibas family becomes, from this perspective, a call to strengthen hope in the future redemption and to actively work to bring light to the world. This is how we can honor the memory of those who have been victims of such ruthless violence. 

The tragedy of the Bibas family not only highlights the brutality of terrorism but also highlights the resilience of the Jewish people’s emuna and hope amid so much pain. Through emuna and the expectation of the geulah, we find comfort and purpose for all this barbarity, transforming mourning into a motivating force to build a more just and peaceful future. 

Terrorists bet on death, desolation, and destruction. Am Israel bets on life, construction, and peace. As Golda Meir famously said: Peace will come when they love their children more than they hate us.  

To all who accuse Israel of destruction, we say to them – Before shedding tears for the people of Gaza, do not forget that they created Hamas, elected them, supported them, kept them, worked for them, concealed them, enlisted them, and celebrated all their atrocities. 

Today, Israel mourns for Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas. Thousands and thousands of people, in an act of unity and national mourning, lined the streets to say their last goodbye as the funeral hearses drove to the cemetery in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yarden, Shiri’s husband, said with his heart torn in pieces: “I wish I could embrace each of them.”  

The tragedy of the Bibas family is not theirs alone, but it is the tragedy of all Am Israel and of all the good people of the whole world. This tragedy is a reminder of the price of hatred and, at the same time, of the unwavering resistance of a people clinging to life, to faith, to memory, and to hope. 

^{1 Editor’s note:
In addition to the two Bibas children, 38 children were massacred on 7-October. Of these, three children ranged in age from newborn to three years old, and four children were 3-6 years old.}

Twenty children were orphaned by both parents, while 96 children were orphaned of their father or mother.

^{(Source: “Council for Children’s Peace”, March 2024)}