“If they wait more, we might only get bodies in nylon bags. It’s time to bring all the people that survived for so long back alive,” said Jimmy Miller, a cousin of Shiri Bibas.
“This young child never celebrated a birthday, not with his parents, not with his grandparents and not with kids in kindergarten. He never celebrated a birthday,” he added ahead of Kfir’s second birthday in captivity on Saturday.
The family were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz and footage of their abduction became one of the enduring images of the attacks.
The nine-month-old was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his parents and brother during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks (Picture: Getty)AFP via Getty Images
On February 19 last year, the IDF released undated video footage of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir being led away by their Hamas captors in the Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“We never received any information except for that movie,” Miller told JNS.
While last year the family marked Kfir’s birthday at his kindergarten in Nir Oz as part of a press briefing organised by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, this year the immediate family was not planning to organise anything, he said.
“We will give interviews to TV channels and be on Hostage Square [in Tel Aviv], but we won’t do anything special because the situation is very strange. We know nothing about them. We are really sad about the situation, about all the soldiers that are killed every day in Gaza, about the plight of the hostages,” said Miller.
“We will remember that it’s his birthday and we will hope to get good news in the next few days, but we will not do anything like last year. We still believe something good will happen, but after one year we don’t know what to expect,” he added.
Kfir will mark his second birthday in captivity this weekend (Picture: Getty)Getty Images
Miller also periodically goes to the Knesset to campaign for the release of his loved ones. But he told JNS he doesn't put much trust in recent reports of a breakthrough in the talks between Israel and Hamas.
“The minute I see it happening, I will believe it. When you don’t expect anything, you don’t get disappointed and sad. I prefer not to get sad if nothing happens, but I really hope something will happen,” he said.
“It’s the time to seal a deal before it’s too late. If they wait more, we might only get bodies in nylon bags. It’s time to bring all the people that survived for so long back alive,” he continued.
“Everybody over there is a humanitarian case. If we keep waiting, nothing will happen,” he added.
Reports suggest that the proposed deal is awaiting final confirmation and would include a limited hostage release and short ceasefire, leading into further mandatory negotiations after 16 days.
Earlier this month, Hamas released a list of 34 hostages it may free in the event of a deal – all the members of the Bibas family were named on it.
However, their condition is unknown, with Hamas previously saying that the family had been killed in an air strike (a claim later thrown into doubt by the IDF footage).
The terror group has also reportedly refused to tell Israel how many hostages are still alive ahead of an exchange agreement which could see over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners freed in return for the hostages.
