Dozens gather in Tel Aviv to mark Yarden Bibas’s second birthday in Hamas captivity
Father of Ariel, 5, and Kfir, 1, is the first hostage to pass two birthdays in Gaza; family in Israel marks occasion with somber ceremony in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square
Dozens of family members and supporters gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday ahead of the second birthday in captivity of Yarden Bibas, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Bibas will turn 35 on Thursday, the first hostage to mark a second birthday in Hamas captivity.
His family marked the occasion with a ceremony in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where his sister Ofri unveiled an iron sign reading “HOME,” that Yarden had made and gifted to her when she moved to the kibbutz.
“We aren’t a family that celebrates birthdays so much,” said Ofri at the ceremony, “but there was always cake, dinner and a crown that Shiri made for you, like for kids in kindergarten. That reality is so far from us now,” she said referring to Bibas’s wife who is also a hostage along with their two small children Ariel and Kfir.
At Hostages Square, participants marked Yarden’s birthday with Goldstar beers and a milk pie dessert that were much loved by him and his wife.
Shiri, Ariel and Kfir had been slated for release along with other mothers and children during a November truce, but that never materialized, amplifying fears over their fates.
Video recovered by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza earlier this year showed Shiri, Ariel and Kfir hours after they were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz. It was the first proof of life for the three, but did not include any footage of Yarden.
Nili Margalit, who spent nearly 50 days in Hamas captivity, revealed in December 2023 that she was with Yarden when Hamas terrorists told him his wife and two young children had been killed and ordered him to film a video in which he blamed Netanyahu for refusing to return their bodies to Israel.
Israel has not confirmed that they were killed.
After the ceremony at Hostages Square on Wednesday, Ofri Bibas lashed out at the government for not achieving the release of her brother and his family.
“I am very, very angry — furious — that they’re still not here. I think there were many opportunities, and they could be here already,” she told the Ynet news site.
Ofri said she didn’t invite politicians to the ceremony, and didn’t want them to show up.
“One full year, I met with members of Knesset, I sat in Knesset committees, with representatives of the public, I heard everyone. They say the hostages are in their hearts, they want them to come back, just like we do, and they’ll do everything they can — but I’m sorry, after a year I just don’t believe them anymore,” she said.
Of her loved ones, Ofri told Ynet, “I don’t know their condition. I don’t know whether they’re alive or dead, I don’t know where they are, I don’t know anything.”
As a message to her captive brother, Ofri said: “We love you very, very much, and we miss you. All of us, really. I don’t have much to wish for, except your freedom, and that you get to hug Shiri again and kiss Ariel and Kfir and be with them together, and that we will be able to celebrate your next birthday, and many after that, together.”