Hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday to celebrate Kfir Bibas’s first birthday, holding out hope that the youngest captive kidnapped by Hamas would be alive.
Friends and supporters of the ginger-haired infant held orange balloons that commemorated the saddest birthday in the world.
A letter from Kfir’s father’s sister, Ofri Bibas, who is pleading with Israel to assist in the return of Kfir and inquiring about the baby’s development while in captivity, was read aloud by Shiri’s family at the birthday celebration, according to the Times of Israel.
Without providing any evidence, Hamas had earlier said that the defenseless infant had been murdered together with his mother, Shiri, 4-year-old sibling Ariel, and themselves. Even though he was separated from his wife and children, the family patriarch, Yarden, was held captive as well.
Assuming all three are alive, infant Kfir would have spent around a quarter of his life in captivity, according to the rest of the family.
The somber protest in Tel Aviv follows a day of peaceful candlelight vigil at the Capitol by US House legislators in honor of Kfir and the other captives.
In the horrific assault that murdered almost 1,200 Israelis on October 7, Kfir was the youngest of 253 captives captured by Hamas.
Kfir and his brother Ariel were seen being removed from their house in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which became infamous as “The Reds” and represented the evil that day.
Yarden Bibas, the father, then released a brutal propaganda film in which he sobbed while claiming that an Israeli airstrike had murdered his wife, Shiri, 32, and their little children.
Neither Hamas nor the authorities ever provided evidence of the family’s whereabouts or demise.
There are an estimated 132 captives in Gaza, with 27 of them presumed dead, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Nothing has changed about the status of the current hostage swap plan despite continuous talks with Qatari mediators.