Israel, crowd for funeral of children and mother Bibas

In Israel, in Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, thousands of people with Israeli flags and signs gathered in the streets in solidarity and homage to the Bibas family as the funerals begin for their little brothers Ariel and Kfir and their mother Shiri, killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza and whose bodies were returned a few days ago. The funeral ceremony is being held privately, near the family home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, but in live video streaming.

Yarden Bibas, the Israeli hostage who returned alive from captivity in Gaza, gave a heartbreaking eulogy, saying he "sorry" for not having "been able to protect all of you." Like many of the ceremony's attendees, Yarden wore an orange kippah, the symbolic color that recalls the hair of the two little brothers killed while captive at the hands of Hamas.

President Isaac Herzog mourns in a long post on X the killing of Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir on the day of her funeral. "An entire country and an entire people are in mourning" and "all of us, an entire heartbroken people, accompany them to their eternal rest," he writes. "This is not how we prayed for them to return to us," he says. "In our mind's eye we saw them return, shining with their golden heads, with the lively and playful look that shone in their little eyes. If there is still mercy in the world, the beautiful faces of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir will be a heartbreaking cry, which will echo in all corners of the world," Herzog says, as reported by Israeli media.