Evening of grief for Israel and all humanity, says Hostages Forum

Yesterday evening, the heart-wrenching news reached us all—Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and baby Kfir, are no longer with us. The pain is unbearable, cutting through the hearts of their loved ones and all who still believe in human decency, said Hostages Forum in a press release.

The statement further added that Shiri, a devoted mother known for her kindness should have been reading bedtime stories to her sons, tucking them in safely at night. Instead, she was dragged into Gaza with them, hostages of terror.

Ariel, just four years old when he was kidnapped, loved Batman and playing with tractors in the garden. He had a childhood full of wonder ahead of him.

And Kfir, just nine months old, was the youngest hostage of this war. His tiny body, his red curls, his infectious smile—none of it was spared from the monstrous cruelty that stole him from his crib, from his mother’s embrace, from life itself.

What kind of world allows a mother and her babies to be kidnapped from their home, torn from safety, and led into a terror state that holds them captive?…questioned the forum statement.

And yet today, while we mourn their deaths, convicted mass murderers are walking free.

It further said that “this is not a prisoner exchange. It’s a deal that sacrifices justice morality, and every value that separates civilization from barbarism to release mass murderers—men and women who planned and executed calculated attacks to kill and maim—while trading them for victims whose only crime was being in their homes or going about their lives when they were violently abducted”.

On one side of this deal: innocent civilians—women, children, and the elderly—kidnapped from their homes, forced to watch their loved ones murdered before their eyes, dragged into captivity simply because they were Jewish.

On the other side: terrorists—men whose hands are stained with the blood of entire families, who masterminded suicide bombings in bustling cafés, shooting massacres in buses, and the brutal slaughter of parents in front of their children.

This is not a political issue. This is about the fundamental divide between those who cherish life and those who celebrate death.

Today, the people of Israel mourn. We grieve for Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir. We grieve for the hostages who will never come home.

And we will never forget who took them, who killed them, and who now walks free as a result of this twisted, immoral deal, handout concluded.