'Depraved monsters': World reacts to Hamas withholding Shiri Bibas, details of Ariel, Kfir's deaths

As the news of the Bibas kids being identified by forensics and Shiri Bibas not having been one of the remains sent back to Israel, many people expressed their condolences and anger online.

By NOA FEIGENBAUM
Updated: FEBRUARY 21, 2025 03:10
People gather at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv amid the release of the four slain hostages, Shir, Ariel and Kfir Bibas in addition to Oded Lifshitz. (photo credit: Chen G. Schimmel)
People gather at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv amid the release of the four slain hostages, Shir, Ariel and Kfir Bibas in addition to Oded Lifshitz.
(photo credit: Chen G. Schimmel)

World leaders and Jewish organizations expressed shock and anger following the news Shiri Bibas's body was not released back to Israel along with those of her young sons Ariel and Kfir.

As the news of the Bibas kids being identified by forensics and Shiri Bibas not having been one of the remains sent back to Israel, many people and organizations expressed their condolences and anger online.

Who are some of these people and organizations?

"Kfir and Ariel were kidnapped alive with their mother yet returned in coffins and alone," the IDF posted on X with a photo of a broken orange heart. "Hamas murdered these innocent babies in captivity. We're heartbroken and outraged - as the world should be."

"Hamas sent home the murdered boys without their mother. Depraved monsters," Israel Embassy to the US posted on X with a photo of Shiri holding Kfir with the words "Where is Shiri?" on it.

A person reacts, on the day the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, are handed over under the terms of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel February 20, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)
A person reacts, on the day the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages, Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, are handed over under the terms of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel February 20, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD)

Posting a photo of Ariel holding his baby brother, Kfir, Israel's Ambassador to the US, Danny Danon, wrote on X, "There are no words that can describe such an atrocity. Hamas not only murdered Ariel and Kfir Bibas in cold blood - a four-year-old boy and a ten-month-old baby - but continues to violate every basic moral value even after their death.

"Instead of returning Shiri, the mother of Kfir and Ariel, Hamas returned an unidentified body, as if it were a worthless shipment. This is a new low, an evil and cruelty with no parallel.

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"The UN Secretary-General, the Security Council and the General Assembly cannot continue to remain silent in the face of Hamas's barbarity. The State of Israel demands a clear and unequivocal condemnation of this heinous crime, and a clear and an immediate demand for the return of Shiri to her family. History will remember well who stood by and remained silent while Hamas trampled on the most basic principles of humanity."

"The Office of the President expresses its strongest condemnation of the terrorist group Hamas following the confirmation of the murder of the children of the Israeli-Argentinian Bibas family," The Argentinian President's Office said in a statement online. "The President of the Nation will declare a two-day National Mourning in memory of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and expresses on behalf of the Argentine people, his condolences to the family, especially to Yarden Bibas, the children's father, who after suffering the torment of being kidnapped for 484 days is not facing his worst nightmare.

"The Argentine Republic demands the immediate release of all hostages and trusts that the terrorist group will be reduced to ashes and will become nothing more than a horrible memory in world history."

Reposting the post from Israel's Embassy to the US, AIPAC wrote: "The cruelty of Hamas knows no bounds."

“The October 7 image of Shiri Bibas captured the essence of that dark day and the contrast between its two sides: a horrified and fiercely protective Jewish mother shielding her beautiful children from the rampaging Hamas monsters lacking even a shred of humanity," the Orthodox Union said in a statement. "For 500 days we hoped that the joyous innocence of Ariel and Kfir would overcome the darkness of their captors, but only because we continue to naively underestimate the depths of Hamas' depravity and hatred of anything human, as further demonstrated by their diabolical separation of the children from their mother.

"Peace will come with moral clarity, when the world recognizes and upholds the human side of this conflict and erases the utter wickedness of the unrepentant promoters and celebrants of evil. We share in the grief of the Bibas and Lifshitz families and we continue to pray for Shiri, the other remaining hostages and their families.”

In a statement online, the Jewish Federations wrote: "Jewish Federations are appalled, outraged, and disgusted by Hamas's cruel and deceitful psychological warfare against the Bibas family, the State of Israel, and the Jewish people.

"The world has held its breath for over a year, and now we know: Ariel and Kfir Bibas z"l were murdered in Hamas captivity. But the female body given to Israel today was not the babies' mother," the Anti-Defamation League wrote on X with a photo of Ariel and Kfir in Batman costumes with the words "They were babies. Innocent babies. May their memory be a blessing."

"Yarden Bibas survived nearly 500 days of torture and unimaginable suffering, only to return to a shattered world where his family was gone. And now, upon confirmation that his baby boys are dead, he is left wondering: where is his wife, the mother of his children? Where is Shiri? There are no words for this horror. May Ariel and Kfir's memory forever be a blessing."

"Not only did these terrorists kidnap Kfir and Ariel Bibas, two young children - aged just nine months and four years - but forensic evidence shows that they brutally murdered them roughly a month into their captivity.

"Further, they lied about returning the body of their mother, Shiri, adding to the immense pain of the family. In case it was not yet clear to anyone, Hamas cannot be allowed to remain in power.

"Jewish Federations send our deepest condolences and love to the Bibas family and our brothers and sisters in Israel during this horrific period."

"Hamas claimed Shiri and the boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike," Former Israel Spokesman Eylon Levy wrote on X. "The forensic report finds the children were "brutally murdered" in captivity. 

"Hamas claimed it sent back Shiri's body. It sent back a random corpse. Where is Shiri? What happened to her? Is she alive?"

"Israeli officials just released the results from the identification process," Israeli actress Noa Tishby wrote on X. "Tragically, baby Kfir and Ariel Bibas were confirmed dead. According to the results, the third body that was returned was not the mother, Shiri Bibas. My hear breaks for the Bibas family."



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