As Ariel Bibas turns 5 in Gaza captivity, his grandmother dreams of seeing him again
Marking birthday, Pnina Bibas writes letter asking grandson if he is aware of ‘big day,’ hopes he will still want to play piggyback when he returns
The grandmother of Ariel Bibas expressed her deep longing to see the child again as he marks his 5th birthday on his 304th day as the hostage of Hamas terrorists.
Pnina Bibas, whose son Yarden Bibas was abducted along with his wife and the couple’s two young sons, wished a happy birthday to her “dear Luli” in an open letter published by The Daily Mail.
“Five years… Do you even know that this big day is approaching?” she asked.
Ariel and his little brother Kfir, who turned 1 in captivity, were taken hostage with their mother, Shiri, on October 7, as she clutched them in her arms, wrapping them with a baby blanket.
Their father, Yarden, was taken hostage separately. Since then, there have been scraps of information about the couple and their redheaded boys, but no real evidence of their whereabouts.
Hamas has claimed that the children are no longer alive, but the Israel Defense Forces says it has not found any evidence to support this.
The extended Bibas family was set to mark Ariel’s 5th birthday with a march from Tel Aviv’s Habima Square to Hostages Square at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Hundreds gathered in Central Park in New York City on Sunday to mark the birthday.
“My heart skips a beat every time I remember how much you’re missed,” Pnina wrote in her letter. “Can you feel our longing, the immense love that fills our hearts?”
“The world around us continues to turn, but time seems to have frozen without you. You’ve grown a year older, but there’s no celebration,” Bibas lamented. “I try to imagine the moment you’ll return to us. Will you still call me ‘Grandma Nini?’ Will you still want to play ‘piggyback?'”
“I can almost hear your laughter as you splash water on me while we water the plants in the garden,” she continued.
“The kumquat tree you love so much has blossomed again, its branches filled with tiny orange fruits. I see them and remember your small hands, eager to pick and taste them. The loquat tree near your home has also borne fruit, orange ones, and I can imagine you running to your mum, so proud of what you’ve picked,” she added.
“Instead of celebrating all the new things you’ve learned, we’re dealing with an absence — of you, of your mum and dad, and of little Fir Fir,” she wrote,
“We’re also in the shadow of a terrible loss. Grandpa Yossi and Grandma Margit are no longer with us, and how will you react when you learn this news?” she added, referencing Shiri Bibas’s parents Margit and Yossi Silberman, who were killed in their Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7.
Pnina wrote that she will “never stop hoping” to see her family.
“Every day I dream of the moment we’ll be together again,” she said.
“I imagine the excitement, the tears, the hugs. I see you shouting ‘Grandma Nini!’ and little Kfir, who might not remember me anymore, smiling at me with a big grin,” she added, vowing, “We’ll celebrate all the birthdays we’ve missed, together.”
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 24 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Jessica Steinberg contributed to this report.
