Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas buried in a single casket: ‘They will remain together’
Mother and two young sons, murdered while held hostage by Gaza terrorists, laid to rest; ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all,’ says Yarden Bibas; family laments their lost future together
Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and baby Kfir, who were abducted by terrorists to the Gaza Strip and then murdered there, were buried together Wednesday in a single casket, mother and children wrapped in an eternal embrace, at their joint funeral.
They were buried at Tsoher Cemetery, near the home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which they were seized on October 7, 2023.
“They will remain together and close, just as Shiri enveloped the children, always, including on that accursed day,” said Carmit Palty Katzir, who acted as MC at the funeral.
She was referring to a haunting video clip of traumatized Shiri, clutching her boys to her chest, as a mob of terrorists dragged them from their home. The images became symbolic of the horror of the attack and seared their fate into the national conscience.
Ariel was four years old when the family was kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and Kfir was just nine months old. The kibbutz was one of the hardest hit on that day — terrorists broke into all but six homes in the community.
Though the funeral was kept as a private event — state officials and the public were asked to stay away — it was broadcast live on a video feed that was simultaneously carried by all major Israeli networks.
The funeral procession began in the central city of Rishon Lezion where the bodies were prepared for burial. Tens of thousands of people gathered along roads and highways of the 60-kilometer route from there to the cemetery to pay their respects. Many held orange balloons or wore orange, a tribute to the bright colored hair of Ariel and Kfir that became an icon of their plight.
In a heartbreaking address, Yarden Bibas eulogized his wife and children at their funeral, speaking with his sister Ofri at his side.
Yarden, who was also taken hostage, was released earlier this month as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“Shiri, this is the closest I’ve been to you since October 7th, and I can’t kiss or hug you, and it’s breaking me!” he said and apologized to his wife and children for not being able to save them from the terrorists, despite putting up a fight. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all,” he said.
“Protect me from bad decisions. Shield me from harmful things and protect me from myself. Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness. Mishmish, I love you!” he said.
Addressing Ariel, he said, “You made me a father. You transformed us into a family. You taught me what truly matters in life and about responsibility.”
Speaking to Kfir, he said, “I didn’t think our family could be more perfect, and then you came and made it even more perfect.”
Related — ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all’: Yarden Bibas’s eulogy for wife Shiri, sons Ariel and Kfir
Dana Silberman-Sitton, Shiri’s sister, said that though she has prepared herself for the moment for a full year, nothing could truly ready her for saying goodbye to her loved ones.
Silberman-Sitton suffered three generations of her family murdered by the terrorists. She and Shiri’s parents, Margit and Yossi Silberman, who also lived in Nir Oz and were killed on October 7, burned in their home by Hamas terrorists.
“We waited to be aunts together, just to be called ‘aunt,’ and you, Shiri were like no other aunt, loving and protective,” she said.
(Ariel Schalit/AP)
Sitton eulogized her two nephews, Ariel, “Lulu,” a redhead with a mischievous laugh: “I only got to be your aunt for four years, but they were four proud years,” she said. “I’ll miss your walk, like a little man, your laughter, your kind eyes, and your sweet hugs.”
Sitton then addressed Kfir, using his nickname “Firfir.”
“Sadly, I only had 9 months to cherish you. It wasn’t difficult to fall in love with you immediately. Smiling and pure, and a redhead too — you didn’t disappoint.”
Sitton asks for forgiveness on behalf of the country’s leadership and military who were not there for the family that day and who took so long to bring them back to their home.
“Please watch over us from above — five angels who are uniquely mine. Baz, hug Dad and Mom tightly for me and watch over them for me,” she said. “Please send energies here to drive all evil from the world and leave only good.”
“I promise you, as I promised Mom and Dad, that the monsters beyond the fence will not succeed in their mission. They will not defeat us, they will not break us,” she vowed.
“On the contrary, their mission failed because we united, because we grew stronger, because we became invincible. They lost.”
Ofri Bibas Levy, Yarden’s sister, said at the funeral that she has been writing her words for over a year.
“The uncertainty, anxiety, and concern for you gave my thoughts no rest, but each time my mind began to formulate them, I forcefully pushed the words away — with the power of my love for you and Yarden, with the strength of hope that you would return,” said Bibas Levy.
“For sixteen months, I’ve been speaking about you everywhere,” she said. “It always hurt and intensified the longing, but talking about you also kept you present, alive. How can it be that you are no longer here?”
Bibas Levy lamented that she’ll never be able to schedule another Shabbat picnic with Shiri, that they won’t be able to watch their children run to one another for hugs, to make fun of Yarden and worry about him together, or to receive hand-me-downs from Shiri for her baby Afik, born in the last 15 months.
She spoke of her nephews, Ariel and Kfir, and how she will miss them and seeing Ariel grow up with her daughter.
“How much she misses you,” said Bibas Levy. “How much we imagined you growing up together, far into a post-army trip to South America.”
She also spoke of not having enough time with Kfir, who was just 10 months old when he was killed.
“We didn’t get to do anything together,” said Bibas Levy. “I didn’t even get to buy you a gift for your first birthday.”
Bibas Levy said her nephews are in her head and heart every time she looks at her children.
“Every time I see a Batman costume or hear a baby laugh,” Bibas Levy said, it reminds her of her nephews, as Ariel was a fan of the superhero. “And that’s how I want to remember the three of you: happy, laughing, a family.”
“Luli and Firfir, the world came to know you in the most tragic way, but I promise we will do everything so that your memory will be one of innocence, love, and goodness. Exactly as mom Shiri and dad Yarden raised you,” she vowed.
Bibas Levy accused the country’s leaders of responsibility for the failures that enabled the October 7 assault and of then failing to secure the safe return of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir.
“Many people ask for your forgiveness, and Yarden’s, and ours,” said Bibas Levy. “But the blame is not on them. This disaster should not have happened. You should not have been taken, and you should have returned alive.”
“Forgiveness means accepting responsibility and committing to act differently, to learn from mistakes,” continued Bibas Levy. “There is no meaning to forgiveness before the failures are investigated, and all officials take responsibility. Our disaster as a nation and as a family should not have happened, and must never happen again.”
“They could have saved you but preferred revenge. We lost. Our image of ‘victory’ will never happen. Our struggle against the enemies will be eternal, but we must always sanctify life, love of fellow humans, respect for the dead, and never leave anyone behind. Otherwise, we lose who we are,” she said.
The three Bibas family members were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Yarden was taken separately from his wife and children.
The bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were returned as part of the month-old ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Yarden Bibas returned, alive, on February 1.
The remains of Ariel and Kfir were returned on Thursday, along with that of hostage Oded Lifshitz and an unidentified Gazan woman who Hamas had said was Shiri Bibas. The terror group handed over Shiri’s body early on Friday after Israel protested.
According to assessments by Israeli officials issued after her body had been identified, Shiri Bibas was “brutally” murdered by her captors in November 2023, alongside her sons, who were killed with “bare hands.” The assessments after a forensic investigation are contrary to Hamas’s claims that the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
