Eight hostages due for release are dead, Hamas admits as Bibas family ‘hold on to hope’ for youngest captives, 2 & 5
Eight hostages due for release are dead, Hamas admits as Bibas family ‘hold on to hope’ for youngest captives, 2 & 5
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EIGHT hostages due for release have been killed during their cruel imprisonment by Hamas, Israel says. The captives appear to have died in the tunnels beneath Gaza during their sick 15-month long detention after they were snatched on October 7, 2023. Some 33 of around 90 hostages were set to be traded back to Israel as part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal inked earlier this month.
![[The Bibas family: father Yarden, mother Shiri, baby Kfir, and four-year-old Ariel.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/bibas-family-father-yarden-mother-930662045_1b8c27.jpg?strip=all&w=570)
Israel said it was informed of the eight deaths on Sunday night by Hamas when it was given a list of the 33 that would be released. It is not yet clear who the eight deceased are as Israeli hostage families desperately cling on to hope. Hamas claims the other 25 in the swap are still alive with the next release of hostages takes place on Saturday.
![[The Bibas family: father Yarden, mother Shiri, baby Kfir, and four-year-old Ariel.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/bibas-family-father-yarden-mother-862534495_507a51.jpg?strip=all&w=944)
Seven in the group of 33 have already been returned home. Families of the hostages have been left in an agonising wait to see whether their loved ones have survived. One of those families is the Bibas, who don't know whether Kfir and Ariel, just two and five years old when they were snatched, are still alive.
![[Illustration of a three-phase peace deal for the Middle East, showing ceasefire, hostage release, and border details.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AP-16-01-israel-hamas-ceasefire-graphic.jpg)
The children, along with their parents Yarden and Shiri, are all on the list of are on the list of hostages to be released in the first six-week phase of the fragile ceasefire. Relatives are yet to hear any news on whether the family could be dead or alive.
![[Displaced Palestinians returning home on foot after a ceasefire.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/displaced-palestinians-making-way-back-967271962.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
