Last Thursday, Hamas said it handed over Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir. Israel confirmed that the bodies of the two children were in the caskets that Hamas provided to the Red Cross and were then transferred to Israel.
Hamas did not return the body of Shiri Bibas, Israeli authorities said, but instead put the body of a Palestinian woman in the casket. Hamas said it was surprised by this finding, claiming it didn’t know the body was not Shiri.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would pay a heavy price for its latest violation of the hostage deal.
It is believed that the Bibas family members were kidnapped by Hamas and the Mujahideen Brigades, which is one of many smaller terrorist groups in Gaza.
The tragic fate of the Bibas family once again puts the spotlight on how Hamas invaded Israel and enabled other terrorist groups and civilians to kidnap people.
Oded Lifshitz “was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. This means that Israel knows some details about which terrorist organizations have held some of the hostages.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are the two largest terrorist groups in Gaza. Hamas planned the October 7 massacre and used dozens of units of fighters to break holes in the fence. It then encouraged other terrorist groups and thousands of civilians to exploit the breaches in the fence.
While Hamas had some plans to kidnap people, it is clear that civilians and other groups engaged in a lot of the kidnappings that took place throughout the day of October 7.
Hamas envisioned quickly kidnapping some people, maybe dozens. It had no idea it would have up to six hours to work its way through bases and communities, kidnapping people.
The kidnapping of the Bibas family was one of the results of the complete collapse of Israel’s security forces on October 7. Their community of Nir Oz suffered a grievous massacre.
Joe Truzman to 'Post': Hamas leverages armed groups in Gaza
Joe Truzman, an editor and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)'s Long War Journal, wrote on social media last week: “Since the start of the Gaza war, I’ve tracked statements made by Hamas and the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, which are the two terrorist groups involved in the kidnapping of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas... the mother and children were abducted by terrorists on October 7 and taken to Khan Yunis, where CCTV footage published by the IDF showed the family at a training camp used by the Palestinian Mujahadeen Movement, aka Palestinian Mujahideen Brigades (a Hamas ally).”
Not much is known about what happened to the family between October 7 and late November, when Hamas claimed that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir had been killed on November 29. Hamas made these claims within the context of the first hostage deal, when it was supposed to hand over Shiri and the children. It said it would turn over the bodies, and the hostage deal collapsed.
“The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement published a follow-up statement declaring that an Israeli airstrike killed Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, along with members of the organization who were holding the family hostage,” Truzman wrote. “Like the Hamas statement, the group did NOT provide evidence to support its claim.”
Last Thursday, a video of the group was posted by Middle East Eye to provide context of the handover. It showed a “field commander” of the Mujahideen Brigades saying that Shiri Bibas was an “active Israeli soldier,” as an excuse to why the group kidnapped her. She and the children were killed in an Israeli airstrike, the terrorist group claimed, adding that it also lost members who were guarding her. The group later took part in the handover ceremony on Thursday.
The Mujahideen Brigades was founded in 2006. Truzman has previously cataloged it as one of the 28 Iran-backed groups that operate in the West Bank. It has claimed to have an affiliate in the West Bank since 2023, a group called the Unit of the Martyrs of the Occupied Interior.
The Mujahideen Brigades was one of many groups in Gaza fighting against Israel, Al Jazeera reported in November 2023. The Mujahideen Battalions or Brigades were the “military” wing of the Mujahideen Movement, “which split from the Fatah movement, and its forces represent a former brigade of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Martyr Jihad Al-Amarin Brigade,” the report said. The brigades were founded by Omar Abu Sharia in 2006, with a strength of about 2,000 fighters, it added.
Truzman told The Jerusalem Post: “The involvement of the Palestinian Mujahideen in the murder and kidnapping of the Bibas family members demonstrates the close relationship Hamas has with smaller terrorist groups in Gaza. Hamas leverages these armed groups, which act as a support mechanism and a partner in coordinated attacks against Israel.”
The Mujahideen group and Hamas may not be the only groups involved in the kidnapping. Last February, IDF spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said the members of the Bibas family “were kidnapped by an organization called ‘Lords of the Desert,’” Ynet reported.
“Hamas has all the details and is the address for all the abductees,” he was quoted as saying. “We are very worried about their fate. When we have certainty, we will inform the family first.”
Hagari was expressing concern because of Hamas claims the family had been killed.
“There are no other videos that I know of that we have not released to the public,” he said. “I would like there to be additional signs of life; we are working on them all the time.”
Hamas released Yarden Bibas on February 1. It is not fully known what happened to Shiri and the two children. It is not known if the Mujahideen Brigades was responsible for murdering them or if Hamas was. It is also not known when their bodies were handed over to Hamas or why Hamas would place the wrong body in the casket handed to the Red Cross on February 20.
What is clear is that Hamas has enabled groups such as PIJ, the Mujahideen, and others to operate in Gaza. It enables them to operate so that it can use them to help fight Israel. It can also then blame various issues on them.
For instance, in the past, Hamas has enabled PIJ to attack Israel, and then Hamas itself has refrained from joining PIJ. This is a convenient way for Hamas to both use and benefit from these groups’ presence.
Hamas lets them join in ceremonies as well, but it doesn’t give them too much credit, lest Hamas lose out on the “victory” it claims against Israel. If Hamas rises in the West Bank, it will want to partner with these groups to expand its base of operations.
Israel has not officially held the Mujahideen Brigades responsible for the murder of the Bibas family members.