Relatives and friends carried last messages of love and sorrow of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, who were laid on Wednesday (February 26) at a funeral attended by hundreds of mourners. The three were laid to rest together, in one coffin, symbolizing their inseparable bond, in a cemetery in Tzohar, next to Shiri's parents who were killed in the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks. The memorial ceremony for the family who became a symbol of the trauma endured by Israelis on that day, was broadcast live. Thousands of Israelis took to main roads and junctions to bid farewell as a convoy carrying the slain proceeded from central Israel to the southern community, located close to Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which the two red-haired boys and their mother were kidnapped on October 7. The youngest hostages, seized by Palestinian gunmen who stormed their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, were killed in captivity weeks after they were abducted into Gaza. Palestinian militant group Hamas returned the bodies of nine-month-old Kfir Bibas, his four year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri last week. Yarden Bibas, the father of the boys, who was captured separately from his family, was released during an exchange of hostages and prisoners earlier this month.
