Kfir Bibas, a 10-month-old baby who has been in captivity in Gaza for more than 50 days, was handed over by Hamas to another Palestinian group, according to Israel, which could complicate efforts to free him.
This Tuesday (28), members of Bibas’ family begged the Israeli government and mediators from Egypt and Qatar to help free the baby, as well as his parents and brother.
Hamas members captured, in addition to the baby, Ariel, four years old, and her parents, Yarden and Shiri, after raiding cities in southern Israel on October 7. According to Israel, Kfir is the youngest of the 240 hostages who were captured that day.
A video from the time shows a terrified Shiri holding the children in a blanket as they were taken into captivity. Another excerpt shows Yarden with a head injury caused by blows from a hammer, said Ofri Bibas, Yarden’s sister.
She told reporters that the family would not be included in the release of 10 hostages this Tuesday. Relatives of the repatriated hostages were informed in advance by the authorities.
Hamas has released dozens of Israeli women and children hostages, as well as foreigners, since Friday (24), as part of a truce agreement. In return, Israel released 150 Palestinian prisoners and allowed more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israel’s top military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, stressed in a briefing that Kfir, Ariel and their parents were being held by a Palestinian faction that was not Hamas.
Another military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the family was in the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has not reported the location or condition of the approximately 170 people who are still abducted.
“The understanding that, for now, we will not receive the hug we have been waiting for leaves us speechless,” reported the Bibas family in a statement to the press.
Jimmy Miller, a cousin of one of the detainees, told Channel 12 TV: “Kfir is only 10 months old. He is a child who still doesn’t even know how to say ‘mommy’. He is still not eating solid foods. He doesn’t have the ability to survive there.”
“We in the family are unable to react. The family hasn’t slept in a long, long time,” she added.
Last week, Yosi Shnaider, another cousin of the family, described the hostages as “simple people who thought they were going to live in paradise,” a reference to Kibbutz Nir Oz, the border village from where they were captured.
Source: CNN Brasil
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