The examination found: Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas were killed by terrorists in captivity
Last week, on February 20th, HAMAS handed over to Israel the remains of four hostages: Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her children, Kfir and Ariel. At that moment, no one yet knew that the transfer of the remains would turn into a new act of cruelty. During the examination at the Tel Aviv Institute of Forensic Medicine, a terrible truth was revealed: instead of Shiri’s body, the remains of an unknown woman were handed over — the DNA did not match the data of any of the Israeli hostages. Only after intense pressure from the international community, on February 21st, HAMAS finally handed over the real remains of Shiri Bibas.
What the investigation established shocked even the most experienced experts. According to intelligence and forensic examination data, in November 2023, the terrorists killed Shiri and her children, Kfir and Ariel, with their bare hands. After that, they tried to cover up the traces of their crime, committing, as investigators note, “horrifying actions”.
Against the backdrop of this tragedy, a long-awaited release also occurred. On Saturday, February 22nd, six Israeli hostages returned home — Tal Shoham, Aver Mengistu, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Hisham al-Sayed. For two of them — Aver Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed — this marked the end of a decade-long captivity. The other three — Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem-Tov, and Omer Wenkert — survived the nightmare of the attack on the Nova festival, and Tal Shoham was captured in his home in Kibbutz Be’eri. They were the last of the 33 people whose release was agreed upon in the first phase of the ceasefire.
There are still 62 hostages remaining in HAMAS captivity. The exact number of those alive among them is unknown.
