Kidnapping and killing of the Bibas family

During the Nir Oz attack, part of the 7 October 2023 attacks that began the Gaza war, Palestinian militants kidnapped the Bibas (Hebrew: בִּיבָּס) family from their home at the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel. The family, which held multiple citizenship of Israel, Argentina, and Germany, comprised 34-year-old Yemenite Jew Yarden (יַרְדֵּן), his 32-year-old wife Shiri (שִׁירִי; née Silberman), and their sons, 4-year-old Ariel (אֲרִיאֵל) and 9-month-old Kfir (כְּפִיר). All four family members were held hostage in the Gaza Strip. Yarden Bibas was abducted separately from his wife and children and held by Hamas, while Shiri Bibas and her children were reportedly held by another militant group, the Mujahideen Brigades. Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the two youngest hostages taken from Israel on 7 October, came to be regarded as symbols of the Gaza war hostage crisis.

Shiri Bibas's parents, José Luis (Yossi) Silberman and Margit Shnaider Silberman, were both killed in the Nir Oz attack. In late 2023, Hamas said that Shiri Bibas and her children had been killed by the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. On 30 November 2023—the last day of the 2023 Gaza war ceasefire—it offered to return their bodies and release Yarden Bibas, but Israel refused, demanding that all living female hostages be released first. Israel did not confirm the deaths of Shiri Bibas and her sons, but expressed grave concerns over their welfare. As part of the 2025 Gaza war ceasefire, Hamas released Yarden Bibas alive on 1 February 2025, after he had spent 484 days in captivity. On 20 February, it handed over coffins that it said contained the bodies of his wife and sons. Israel verified the remains of Ariel and Kfir Bibas through DNA testing, but accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement after finding that the female remains did not match Shiri Bibas or any other Israeli hostage still held by Hamas. Hamas handed over another body on the evening of 21 February, which DNA testing confirmed as that of Shiri Bibas. Argentina held two days of national mourning. To mark the funeral of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas on 26 February, buildings and monuments around the world were illuminated in orange, the colour of the boys' hair. Shiri Bibas and her sons were buried alongside her parents in Tsoher Regional Cemetery, near their former home.

Hamas and Israel have made conflicting statements about the cause of death for Shiri Bibas and her children. Hamas said that they were killed by an Israeli airstrike in November 2023. The Israeli government said that forensic evidence indicated that they were killed by their captors, and that their corpses were mutilated to simulate injuries from a bombing. Israel said it had shared evidence with its international partners. Hamas accused Israel of fabricating "baseless lies". Neither Israel nor Hamas has released evidence of their claims to the public.