"Kfir, I am sorry that I brought you into such a cruel world."
(Jan. 19, 2026 / JNS) Yarden Bibas, whose family became a symbol of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas kidnappings, has marked what would have been his murdered son’s third birthday with a wrenching Instagram post.
Bibas wrote on Sunday that his son, Kfir, never celebrated even his first birthday, “so how can I mark your third birthday for you?” He recalled how Kfir in his short life tasted solid food, started to crawl and celebrated his older brother Ariel’s fourth birthday.
Yarden and Shiri Bibas and their sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, then about 9 months old, were seized from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault and taken hostage to Gaza. Yarden survived and was freed in a prisoner exchange on Feb. 1, 2025, after 484 days in Hamas captivity.