Thousands of mourners lined the streets of central and southern Israel on Wednesday to honor the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were murdered by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The Times of Israel reports the grieving masses stood along the route that ran for over 30 miles from the city of Rishon LeZion, passing by Yavne, Ashdod, and Ashkelon and eventually reaching the community of Tsoher in the south, where they were to be buried.
“We have begun the funeral procession accompanied by masses of Israelis,” the Bibas family said in a statement seen by the outlet. “We see and hear you, and are moved and strengthened by you.”
The plight of the Bibas family has come to embody the profound sense of loss and grief still permeating Israel after the Hamas terror group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, AP notes.
Footage of a terrified Shiri Bibas clutching her two redheaded sons — nine-month-old Kfir and four-year-old Ariel — as they were kidnapped and dragged to Gaza is seared into the country’s collective memory.
Israel says forensic evidence shows the boys were murdered by their captors in November 2023, while Hamas says the family was killed along with their guards in an Israeli airstrike although not a single piece of evidence was produced to back the claim.
Their bodies were handed over earlier this month as part of a ceasefire deal that paused the Israel-Hamas war.
Israelis endured another moment of agony when testing showed that one of the bodies returned by Hamas was identified as someone else. Shiri’s body was returned the following night and positively identified, as Breitbart News reported.
Mourners gather to pay their respects next to a memorial for the Bibas’ at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on February 26, 2025, on the day of their funeral procession. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty)
On Wednesday, many people dressed up in Batman costumes and saluted as the caskets passed.
Yarden Bibas eulogized his family.
“Do you remember our last conversation together? In the safe room, I asked if we should fight or surrender. You said fight, so I fought,” he sad, speaking directly to his wife. “Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have fought.”
Then he spoke of his elder son, Ariel: “I hope you know I thought about you every day, every minute.”
AP contributed to this story
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