Official identification has linked the remains of two of the slain Israeli hostages returned to Israel on Thursday from captivity as belonging to Kfir and Ariel Bibas, the IDF confirmed early Friday morning, alongside a report on forensic findings of the case.
Available intelligence and forensic evidence from the identification process have led officials to determine that the two children were brutally murdered in captivity by Gaza terrorists in November 2023, just a month after their abduction, and were not killed by an IAF strike, as Hamas originally claimed.
The two boys were aged nine months and four years old, respectively, at the time of their abduction on October 7, 2023. The bodies were identified using forensic analysis in an interdepartmental collaboration between the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police.
Kfir Bibas was murdered at 10 months old. Ariel was murdered at four years old.
The children were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside their father, Yarden, and their mother, Shiri.
Where is Shiri Bibas' body, and what is Hamas doing with it?
While the boys' father, Yarden Bibas, was released as part of the hostage return agreement on February 1, 2025, Shiri’s body was supposed to be returned with the Bibas children on Thursday.
However, the body that Hamas returned was found not to be a match for Shiri Bibas, according to the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
The military identified Oded Lifshitz, who was among the four slain returned hostages on Thursday, before confirming the identities of Ariel and Kfir Bibas.
The body that was posing as the remains of Shiri Bibas, in a coffin locked and sent with keys that did not match, was an anonymous woman.
Experts attempted to perform DNA matches to the other Israeli hostages held in Gaza, also finding no match.
The return of a random body, not Shiri Bibas, violates the agreement that brought the bodies back, officials said.
They added that returning the proper bodies was obligated under the hostage-ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Reactions from key officials
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday morning, "The State of Israel bows its head to two small children, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and to Oded Lipshitz, one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz. All three were murdered with terrible cruelty in Hamas captivity in the first weeks of the war."
"The cruelty of the Hamas monsters knows no bounds," he added.
"Not only did they kidnap the father, Yarden Bibas, the young mother, Shiri, and their two small babies, but in an unspeakably evil manner, they did not return Shiri to her little children, the little angels, and they put the body of a Gazan woman in a coffin."
"We will act resolutely to bring Shiri home along with all our hostages - both living and dead - and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and wicked violation of the agreement," he continued.
Following the confirmation of identities, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Instead of returning Shiri, the mother of Kfir and Ariel, Hamas returned an unidentified body, as if it were a worthless shipment. This is a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel.”