On a difficult and emotional day for Israel, thousands upon thousands of Israelis lined the streets on Wednesday to pay their respects to Hamas victims, Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel and Kfir, as they were buried in southern Israel.

The young family, who captured the world’s attention when they were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and taken as hostages to Gaza, were brutally killed there by Hamas just a month later. Shiri was 32, Ariel was four, and Kfir just nine-months-old.

The remaining members of the Bibas family asked that the funeral be a private family event, so instead Israelis from all over the country came with flags, orange balloons and many with signs reading “sliha“, which means sorry, to line the path of the funeral cortege, which began in Rishon Lezion, and ended at the Tsoher Cemetery in southern Israel.

Ofri Bibas, the sister in law of Shiri, said: “Through the window I see a broken country. We cannot rise or recover until the last hostage returns home.”

Yarden, Shiri’s husband and the father of Kfir and Ariel, who was abducted separately on October 7 from the same location, was released earlier this month after 484 days in captivity.

He told mourners that he was sorry that he could not hug each and every one of them. “We are accompanied by the masses of the people of Israel,” the Bibas family said. “We see and hear you, and we are moved and strengthened by you.

On Tuesday evening, the President’s residence was illuminated in orange in memory of the Bibas family and their distinctive red hair, as was Israel’s Knesset Building in Jerusalem.

The bodies of Shiri and her children were returned to Israel by Hamas on February 20 along with the body of Oded Lifshitz, an 83-year-old peace activist, who was buried on Tuesday at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

The bodies were transferred in Khan Younis to the Red Cross, which then handed the coffins containing the hostages’ remains to the IDF forces stationed in Gaza. The forces scanned the coffins for any explosive materials, and later wrapped them in Israeli flags.

A short military ceremony led by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim was then held at the spot, before the remains were taken by ambulance to the Health Ministry’s Abu Kabir National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.

All along the route the coffins took, Israelis lined the roads holding national flags and yellow flags in solidarity with the hostages.

The identification process, which was completed hours later, revealed that while Oded, Kfir and Ariel have been identified, the body of the woman supposed to be Shiri turned out to be remains of an unknown Palestinian woman. The findings sparked massive outrage, causing Hamas to release the body of Shiri hours later. The terror group claimed the incident was an unintentional “mix up.”

Shiri was identified at Abu Kabir National Center of Forensic Medicine shortly after. It appears she was murdered by terrorists along with her two children, while in captivity, in November 2023.

Agony. Pain. There are no words.

Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters.

On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.

May…

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) February 20, 2025

The slain hostages

Bibas was kidnapped with her two children from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Despite Hamas claiming that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir were killed shortly after the war broke out, Israel refused to determine the status of the three until they received concrete proof that they were no longer alive.

The kidnapping of the Bibas family resonated strongly with Israelis, who have been campaigning for their release. The return of the bodies also made headlines across many international media outlets, which expressed shock and outrage.

Lifshitz was also kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz along with his wife Yocheved, who was released in the November 2023 hostage deal.

Lifshitz was a retired journalist and a peace activist. He often personally transported Gazans from the Palestinian enclave into Israel for work.