Hamas has handed over a ten-month-old Israeli infant and his family to a separate Palestinian terror group in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday night.
News of the family’s whereabouts comes after it was reported that Israel and Hamas agreed to extend their original, four-day cease-fire to Wednesday, allowing for the release of 20 more hostages in exchange for 60 Palestinian security prisoners. Now that another group has control over them, the probability that the family will be released by the end of the two additional days has been significantly reduced.
The baby boy, Kfir Bibas, along with his parents and four-year-old brother are currently being held in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, according to IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichai Adraee.
“Children and babies under the age of one who have not seen the light of day for more than fifty days are being held captive by Hamas, [who] treats some of them like loot and in some places has transferred them to other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” Adraee posted on X.
It was unclear when the internal transfer occurred and which exact faction has custody over the Israeli family. But, according to the Telegraph, security analyst Michael Horowitz has reason to believe they are being held by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is a Marxist-Leninist terror group based in Gaza.
It’s possible the armed faction is using Kfir and the Bibas family as leverage in further extending the truce with Israel, considering Khan Yunis is expected to be one of the next major targets in the IDF’s offensive following the conclusion of the cease-fire deal. Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Monday that the Jewish nation’s military will be stronger when it returns to fighting. “We will fight in the entire Strip,” he said.
Bibas family members responded to the announcement with a statement, saying they “are currently experiencing moments of great uncertainty.
“The realization that we will not receive the hug we longed for so much now leaves us speechless,” the family wrote in a statement. “We are happy for the families united with their loved ones. We won’t stop the fight for the return of our loved ones to Israel. Thank you all for the support.”
In those four days of the initial cease-fire agreement, a total of 69 hostages were released by Hamas in return for roughly 150 Palestinian inmates. Among the Israeli citizens recently freed include four-year-old Abigail Edan, an Israeli-American orphan whose parents were killed in the October 7 terror attack over 50 days ago. Hamas still retains an estimated 160-170 hostages, many of whom are Israeli dual citizens.