MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hamas says Argentine baby hostage and his family died in Israeli strike

Israeli forces were trying to corroborate the announcement

According to the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group Hamas, the 10-month-old Argentine baby Kfir Bibas, his brother, and their mother had died as a result of an Israeli strike carried out in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks in which some 240 people were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.

“Three detainees were killed as a result of Zionist bombardments carried out beforehand in the Gaza Strip,” said the Ezzedin Al Qasam brigades, Hamas's armed wing. The victims were identified as Sherry Silverman Bibas, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, and four-year-old Ariel Bibas, the Hamas-linked Palestinian daily Filastin reported.

The Bibas family, including father Yarden, whose whereabouts are unknown, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the raid that triggered the ongoing conflict.

“The Hamas terrorist organization continues to act in a cruel and inhumane manner,” said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), who reached out to relatives of the Bibas' to “accompany them at this time.” However, the IDF said they could not confirm the information regarding the fate of the Bibas family. “The IDF is examining the reliability of the information,” they said.

“Hamas is endangering the hostages, including nine children. Hamas is demanded to return them immediately to Israel,” the IDF also said in a statement. The Bibas had been reportedly handed over to “another Palestinian terrorist group” in Gaza, according to Israeli sources.

“The IDF is working with all means, operational and intelligence, to return the kidnapped and abductees home.”

Earlier this week, the Israeli Defense Forces said they believed that Kfir and his brother Ariel, 4, had allegedly been taken to Khan Younis (in southern Gaza) under the control of a separate Palestinian militant group, believed to be the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The aunt of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, who is being held captive by Hamas along with the rest of his family, made a dramatic public plea Tuesday for his release. “Do whatever you have to do,” she pleaded. And he stressed the fact that “all the minors were released by Hamas,” except her nephews.

Hamas has already released a dozen Argentine nationals out of the twenty it captured.

International mediators were seeking Wednesday to extend the truce to allow for more swaps between Israeli hostages and Palestinian prison inmates held by Tel Aviv.