Hamas Terrorists ‘Brutally Murdered’ Bibas Children With Their Hands, IDF Announces

‘Contrary to Hamas’s lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike’ but were ‘murdered by terrorists in cold blood,’ says IDF spox Daniel Hagari

Hamas terrorists viciously murdered the Bibas family’s two small children, nine-month-old Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, just weeks after taking the children hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel announced on Friday. While Hamas had long claimed that an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed the Bibas children, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said “forensic findings” show Hamas terrorists killed them “with their bare hands.”

“Contrary to Hamas’s lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood,” Hagari said in a somber video statement. “The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys—they killed them with their bare hands.”

“Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities,” he continued. “This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that supports these findings. We have shared these findings, intelligence, and forensics with our partners around the world so they can verify it.”

IDF spokesman Hagari: “Contrary to Hamas’s lies, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an airstrike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys—they killed them with their bare hands.” pic.twitter.com/Fqa8Nuzoyp

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) February 21, 2025

Israel examined the bodies of Kfir and Ariel late Thursday after Hamas returned their remains under an unraveling ceasefire deal. Hamas terrorists paraded their coffins through the Gaza Strip before throngs of cheering Palestinians and uniformed gunmen.

Hamas also said it was returning the body of the boys’ deceased mother, Shiri Bibas. When the Jewish state examined the bodies, it became clear that Hamas had returned an “unidentified” body that was neither Bibas nor any other Israeli hostage. Israel’s military described the disturbing revelation as a “violation of utmost severity.”

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “revenge” for Hamas’s crimes.

“As the prime minister of Israel, I vow that I will not rest until the savages who executed our hostages are brought to justice. They do not deserve to walk this earth. Nothing will stop me. Nothing,” Netanyahu said in a Friday statement.

“These Hamas monsters also cynically refused to bring back the boys’ mother, Shiri, and sent the body of a Gazan woman instead, in brazen violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said.

Hamas’s repeated hostage release ceremonies—where emaciated Israeli captives have been paraded on stage before Gazans and officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)—have already stoked anger in Israel. But Thursday’s macabre discoveries are likely to erase any remaining desire Israel has to continue upholding the ceasefire.

Before releasing the four coffins back to Israel, Hamas displayed them on a makeshift stage in front of an anti-Semitic sign depicting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a bloodthirsty vampire snarling above a photo of the murdered captives. The sign included the caption, “The War Criminal Netanyahu & His Nazi Army Killed Them with Missiles from Zionist Warplanes.”

Like other hostage release ceremonies conducted by Hamas, hoards of Gazans celebrated alongside masked Hamas gunmen and officials from the ICRC.

The aid agency’s role in these barbaric displays is likely to bring increased scrutiny toward the organization, which failed to fulfill its mandate to visit the hostages and assess their health, as the group routinely does during traditional conflicts. The ICRC has participated in Hamas’s propagandistic hostage release displays, sending officials to appear on stage with the terrorists, shake hands, and sign papers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said these stage-managed productions show “who Hamas really is.”

“I mean, who kidnaps families?” Rubio said in a Thursday interview. “And then the way even that they were released, with people cheering in the streets, it just tells you who we’re dealing with, with Hamas. This is not a government. This is not simply an ideological movement. These are evil, terrible people.”

Hamas, Rubio said, must be purged from the Gaza Strip entirely.

“The idea that they would ever be allowed to continue to have arms, to be militarized, and to control territory anywhere in the world is unfathomable,” he said.