Slain hostage Ariel Bibas, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists, would have turned six years old on Tuesday.
The family shared a post on Instagram to mark his birthday: “Ariel was a mischievous child full of love with a smile that immediately melted everyone he met,” the post read.
“We invite you to light a candle or to blow up an orange balloon and dedicate a moment to create a good moment with your loved ones that will bring a smile to their faces - send a message, give a hug, offer to help someone.”
“We love you and miss you, Luli.”
Kidnapped on October 7
Ariel was abducted on October 7, 2023, along with his baby brother Kfir, father Yarden, and mother Shiri from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
The IDF confirmed through intelligence and forensic evidence from the identification process that the two children were brutally murdered in captivity by Hamas in November 2023, just a month after their abduction, and were not killed by an IAF strike, as Hamas originally claimed.
Ariel was murdered at four years old, and Kfir was murdered at 10 months old.
Their bodies were returned to Israel along with hostage Oded Lifshitz, after 503 days in Hamas captivity in February.
Shiri’s body was returned two days later, after Hamas misidentified her remains, sending another woman’s body in a locked coffin with keys that did not match, according to extensive testing by the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir.
Yarden Bibas was released alive earlier that month as part of a hostage-prisoner swap.
The three slain Bibas family members were laid to rest together at Tzohar cemetery in the South.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "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.