Sawt Falasteen - Fate of two child hostages grips Israel after Gaza deal

Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest of the 251 people seized by militants during Hamas's unprecedented attack on southern Israel more than 15 months ago.

Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his brother Ariel and their mother Shiri were killed in an Israeli strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to the hope they are still alive.

"To imagine them coming back alive brings me immense joy," Hila Shlomo, a musician, told AFP at "Hostages Square", a central plaza in Israel's main commercial city Tel Aviv that has become the focus of protests and campaigns on the captives' behalf.

"What happened to these children is a symbol, a symbol of man-made evil, but also of the victory of life if we manage to free them, whatever the cost," said the 23-year-old, visibly moved.

The boys and their mother are on the list of 33 hostages to be released during the first stage of the ceasefire deal, as is the boys' father, Yarden Bibas, though that does not guarantee they are among the living.

Hostages released during an earlier, short-lived truce said Yarden Bibas was kept separately from his family, and Hamas has not said he is dead.

For several days now, countless messages of support accompanied by photos of Kfir Bibas have been circulating on social media, a sign that many are still holding out hope.

Footage published by Hamas of Shiri Bibas tightly holding her two red-headed boys, taken from their house in kibbutz Nir Oz, became one of the lasting images of the tragedy that struck Israel that day.

- 'Heart-wrenching' -

Further along the square, two retirees, Osnat Nyska and Yafa Wolfensohn, also became emotional at the mention of the Bibas boys.

The two friends were attending a weekly gathering calling for the liberation of the hostages.

"I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers," said 70-year-old Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery school with the Bibas brothers.

"They really are a symbol... the two youngest children kidnapped, and if they're not alive anymore it will be heart-wrenching," added Wolfensohn.

At a football game in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Wednesday evening, players from Hapoel Beersheba held orange balls, a colour that has come to be associated with the redheaded Bibas children.

During Saturday night's regular protest, Eli Bibas, grandfather to Kfir and Ariel, was among the speakers addressing the crowd.

"Next Saturday, our Kfir will live his second birthday in captivity. How is it possible that my grandson, who was kidnapped when he was eight-and-a-half months old, is going through his second birthday in hell?" he asked.

"How is it that he still hasn't celebrated a birthday with his father, his family, in his home in his country?"

Relatives of the Bibas family declined to speak about the ceasefire deal when contacted by AFP, but did issue a statement Wednesday saying they were "aware of information suggesting that our family will be part of the first phase of the deal, and that Shiri and the children will be freed".

But, they added, we "won't take anything for granted as long as our loved ones haven't crossed the border".

Thirty-three Israeli hostages -- among them women and children -- will be released in the initial 42-day phase of the agreement, which could become a permanent ceasefire, according to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, whose country acted as a mediator during the months-long negotiations.

"All the hostages are in our hearts," said Nelly Ben Israel, a librarian at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. "But I think I'm not mistaken when I say we think first and foremost about the young Bibases."

Q.Jaber--SF-PST