Mourners collect across the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two kids, Ariel and Kfir, throughout their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel on Wednesday.
Ariel Schalit/AP
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Ariel Schalit/AP
RISHON LETZION, Israel — Ever since Shiri Bibas, 32, and her sons Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 and 9 months, had been taken hostage to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Israelis hoped they’d be freed alive.
As a substitute, crowds gathered alongside roads and overpasses throughout the nation Wednesday to look at the funeral procession of a mom and kids killed whereas captive in Gaza — a household tragedy that has shattered the Israeli public after greater than a yr of battle, with scores of Israelis nonetheless held hostage.
“I came after I didn’t sleep all night,” mentioned Sarit Sheiman, a 49-year-old therapist, exterior the funeral house the place the procession started. “ I didn’t think that it would last 500 days, and this whole nightmare is going to be like routine for us.” She held a handwritten sign up Hebrew that mentioned: Sorry, Shiri, that nobody protected you.
Hamas says Shiri Bibas and her kids had been killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza greater than a month into the Israel-Hamas battle, although after their stays had been returned to Israel and examined by a forensic group final week, Israeli officers mentioned the three had been killed by their captors.
“ These monsters looked into the eyes of a 9-month-old baby and his 4-year-old brother, and strangled, beat, twisted, and shattered them with their hands,” mentioned Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., in remarks to reporters.
The forensic report has not been made public, however Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and different officers have divulged particulars about their deaths, drawing a public rebuke from the youngsters’s aunt. The household didn’t invite any Israeli authorities consultant to the funeral.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu, we haven’t received an apology from you in this terrible moment,” the aunt, Ofri Bibas, mentioned in a video assertion final week when Israel introduced the Bibas hostages had been lifeless.
Hamas launched the incorrect physique at first
The daddy of the household, Yarden Bibas, was freed this month in a hostage-prisoner alternate after greater than a yr being held captive in Gaza.
Then, final week, the Palestinian militant group returned what it mentioned had been the stays of Shiri and her kids, in a ceremony with masked gunmen, a banner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted as a fanged vampire, and crowds of onlookers.
However Hamas had handed over the stays of an nameless Gazan lady as an alternative of the Israeli mom, Israeli officers mentioned. Hamas mentioned there had been an error, and handed over the mom’s physique a day later.
Israelis gathered alongside an extended funeral procession route
The our bodies had been pushed in a funeral procession from a funeral house in Rishon Letzion, a metropolis in central Israel, to a cemetery in southern Israel close to the kibbutz group alongside the Gaza border the place the Bibas household lived and had been taken hostage.
Outdoors the funeral house, Israelis lining the street cried, holding handwritten indicators that mentioned “sorry,” and quietly sung the Israeli nationwide anthem, as a convoy of black autos with tinted home windows handed slowly.
“Through the window, I see a broken country. We will not rise, and we will not heal until the last hostage is home,” wrote Ofri Bibas, sister of bereaved father Yarden, in a social media put up.
The funeral was closed to the general public, on the request of the household. Eulogies had been broadcast stay on Israeli tv.
“Ariel, I hope you’re not angry with me for failing to protect you properly and for not being there for you,” Yarden Bibas mentioned in a eulogy for his 4-year-old son. “I hope you’re enjoying heaven.”
Yanal Jabarin in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
