For over a year, many Israelis around the world were caught by the fate of her mother and her two young sons captured by gunmen during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 and took her to Gaza. Other people are suffering.
When Israeli woman Siri Vivas and her children announced on Tuesday that they would hand over their bodies this week, they were hoping that their children would come back to life.
For many Israelis, the invitation of Vivas, her husband, Yalden and the redheaded children – Ariel, who was four years old at the time, and not nine months after that – symbolizes the cruelty of Hamas-led attacks. Ta. It urged a 15-month war in Gaza. The capture of the family is a rallying thing for both those who supported the deal to end the war and negotiate the rapid release of hostages, and those who believe that the army should continue to fight until Hamas is destroyed. It became a cry.
News that Hamas, part of a series of negotiated exchanges at this stage of the ceasefire agreement, will take over the bodies, followed the announcement of 19 living Israeli hostages in recent weeks. If these releases lifted spirits in Israel, reports of the death of children were disrupted by many across the country.
Israel has not publicly confirmed the deaths of the three Vivas families, but Israeli military last month called them “significant interest.”
Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for their bodies.
Mr. Vivas was accused of separately in Gaza. He was seen in video footage being kicked out with a bleeding head wound. Vivas's elderly parents were also killed in a Hamas-led attack.
The adduction of the Bibas family is burned into the spirit of the Israeli people. Their release campaign featured an orange balloon that symbolized the redheaded boy and a reference to Batman, the beloved character of the toddler Ariel.
In the video of the attack, Vivas was seen desperately clutching her two sons, but Palestinian extremists stood nearby. She looked terrifying, wrapped in a blanket.
On Tuesday, the Vivas family said in a statement that the pledge to send Hamas home sent them “confusion” but they were still waiting for more information. “Our journey is not over until we receive a definitive confirmation,” the family said.
According to Israel, the Hamas-led 2023 attack killed around 1,200 people and accused more than 250. One of the most intense hit communities is Nir Oz, Bevers' hometown, where about a quarter of its 400 residents were killed or taken hostage. Kfir was the youngest person to be seized.
The attack led Israel to declare a war with Hamas, invading Gaza, leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and fighter jets, leaving many of the coastal enclaves in abandoned.
Vivas texted other families through attacks from an intensified, secure room where he had been hiding with his wife and children. “I love you all,” Vivas wrote by the Palestinian gunman as Overrun Neil Oz. He later sent out the final mission: “They're coming in.”
Hamas' armed wing, the Kassam Brigade, issued a statement in November 2023 that Vivas and her two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Their fear of their fate grew when they were not among the mothers and children of other prisoners who were released during the week-long ceasefire that month.
Hamas later released a propaganda video showing Vivas crying about being taken prisoner when he replied that his family had been killed.
A year ago, the Israeli military released footage from a security camera that said on the day of acquiring, Vivas and his children were shoved into the car wrapped in seats. Lt. Gen. Daniel Hagali, the chief spokesman for the Israeli army, said that at the time, prisoners were taken to the previous post, belonging to the Mujahedine Brigade, a small armed group in East Khan Eunice of Gaza, and they were He said that was the case. Photographed somewhere else.
Earlier this month, Vivas was released as part of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that began last month. The agreement provides that Hamas will release at least 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase of the transaction.
An Israeli government spokesman said last month that Hamas provided a list showing that out of the 33 hostages, 25 are alive and eight have been killed.
“Sadly, my family hasn't returned to me yet,” Vivas said in a statement after returning to Israel. “They are still there. My light is still there and everything here is dark as long as they are there.”
Vivas' cousin, Eilon Keschette, described Ariel in November 2023 as the centre of attention and a boy who loves to play with toy tractors and cars. Kfir was a “cold” baby in Formula who was just starting to eat solid foods, he said.
The Bibas family has experienced “a twisted reality from hell,” according to another relative, Yifat Zailer, in an interview last year.
