Pnina Bibas, 64, wrote to her grandson, who loves Batman and has bright red hair to say: “Dear Luli, can you feel our longing, the immense love that fills our hearts?
“Nine months have passed since you were taken from us by bad people. Nine months of tears, prayers, and unwavering hope.
“The world around us continues to turn, but time seems to have frozen without you. You've grown a year older, but there's no celebration.”
Agonising images showed the moment his mother, Shiri, 33, and he and his younger brother then nine-month-old brother, Kfir, were dragged away from their Kibbutz in Nir Oz.
In her letter, Pnina wondered if the Ariel “even knows that his big day is approaching” as there has been very little information about their whereabouts or condition in Gaza.
She wrote: “My heart skips a beat every time I remember how much you're missed.
“I try to imagine the moment you'll return to us. Will you still call me 'Grandma Nini'? Will you still want to play 'piggyback'?
“I can almost hear your laughter as you splash water on me while we water the plants in the garden.”
The heartrending image of Shiri Bibas with baby Kfir and Ariel being abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7[Missing Credit]
Hamas released a depraved video of the Ariel’s father Yarden, also a hostage and held separately, in which he was told his family had been killed in an Israeli air strike.
In her emotional letter Pnina tells her grandson what has been happening since October 7.
She wrote: “The kumquat tree you love so much has blossomed again, its branches filled with tiny orange fruits. I see them and remember your small hands, eager to pick and taste them.”
Pnina said each time she reads stories to his cousin “my eyes search for you' hoping to 'find you sitting beside her' with that 'shy, sweet smile”.
The letter also explains how the family has dealt with the loss of Ariel's maternal grandparents, Margit Silberman, 63, and husband Yossi, 67.
The couple were among the 1,200 Israelis brutally murdered in the attack on the community.
Pnina wrote: “Luli, so much has changed in the last year. Instead of celebrating all the new things you've learned, we're dealing with an absence - of you, of your mum and dad, and of little Fir Fir.
“We're also in the shadow of a terrible loss. Grandpa Yossi and Grandma Margit are no longer with us, and how will you react when you learn this news?
“Every day I dream of the moment we'll be together again.
“I imagine the excitement, the tears, the hugs. I see you shouting 'Grandma Nini!' and little Kfir, who might not remember me anymore, smiling at me with a big grin.”
The grandmother added: “Until then, Luli, know that you are loved, that we think of you every moment. And one day, we'll celebrate all the birthdays we've missed, together.”
To mark his fifth birthday family have shared a video of Ariel blowing out the candles on his birthday cake from last year.
Events in Israel and around the UK will take place today to mark the five-year-olds birthday and add to calls to release the 115 hostages that remain in Hamas captivity.
