Hamas has claimed its youngest hostage – a 10-month-old boy – has been killed alongside along with his four-year-old brother and their mom.
Shiri Bibas and Kfir and Ariel Bibas had been taken in the course of the terror assault on Israel in October and had been the highest-profile civilian hostages but to be freed.
The group’s armed wing, al Qassam Brigades, stated on social media that Mrs Bibas, 32, and her sons died in an Israeli airstrike earlier than the present ceasefire.
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The boys’ father, Yarden Bibas, can also be being held.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) stated it was “examining the reliability of the information”.
“IDF representatives spoke with the members of the Bibas family, informed them of the publication [of the claims] and are with them at this time,” a press release learn.
Relatives made a particular attraction on Tuesday after the household was left off the penultimate record of individuals to be freed below the present truce deal.
Mrs Bibas’s cousin, Yifat, informed Sky News it was agonising to don’t have any info.
“I can’t stop thinking about Kfir, what he is eating, is he bathing, is he hitting his milestones?” she stated.
She was fearful Hamas might need handed them to a different armed group in Gaza.
“We reach a dead end every time we try to figure out why Hamas is having so much trouble getting them back, or whether that means if they’re alive or not,” she stated.
Yifat stated Hamas might be enjoying “psychological games” by not giving them any information.
“It’s amazing that a baby became some sort of a card or, you know, a winning card or a trophy holding him hostage like this to get more arms or, I don’t know, fuel for their missile launchers,” she stated.
Sky’s Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall stated the household would now be desperately hoping the Hamas declare is fake.
“There have been occasions in the last week or so when hostages who had been declared dead by one of the armed groups in Gaza actually turned out not to have died – and have subsequently been released,” stated Bunkall.
“I’m sure that that is something the family will be clinging on to tonight.”
Read extra:
Have hostages gone lacking in Gaza?
Thai hostage negotiator thanks Iran for help
Hamas has to date freed 61 Israelis – practically all of them girls and kids – as a part of a ceasefire deal that began on Friday
The extension to the truce is because of finish late on Wednesday and intense talks are happening to increase it additional.
Egyptian safety sources have informed Reuters information company they count on it may be prolonged by one other two days.
Source: information.sky.com”