Freed Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas spoke publicly Sunday for the first time since his release and the funeral for his wife, Shiri, and two young sons. Ariel and Kfir.
Bibas and other freed hostages spoke about their experiences on 60 Minutes. Bibas said he chose to do his first interview with an American outlet because he wanted to get the attention of President Donald Trump, whom he credits for saving him and says is the only person who can stop the war.
“Please stop — stop this war and help — help bring all the hostages back,” Bibas said as his message for Trump. “I know he can help. I’m here because of Trump. I’m here only because of him. I think he’s the only one who can stop this war again.”
Bibas believes ending the war is the only way to free the remaining hostages home, including his childhood best friend, David Cunio. Cunio was kidnapped with his wife, Sharon, and two children, who were released in the November 2023 hostage exchange deal.
“We did everything together. He was with me in every big thing in my life. He was in my wedding. And now I’m having the — probably the — the hardest thing I have to move with my life, and David is not with me. I lost my wife and kids. Sharon must not lose her husband.”
Bibas said it was frightening to hear IDF airstrikes while being held in Hamas’ terror tunnels.
“It’s scary,” Bibas said. “You don’t know when it’s gonna happen. And when it happens, you’re afraid for your life. The whole earth would move like an earthquake, but underground.”
“Everything could collapse any moment,” he added.
Israel eliminated more than a dozen Hamas leaders in the week after the ceasefire collapsed following Hamas’s refusal to release more hostages or agree to multiple extension proposals.
Speaking about his wife and sons, Bibas said they were murdered in “cold blood” with “bare hands,” a claim supported by forensic assessments of the bodies.
“They were murdered in cold blood, bare hands,” Bibas said. “[Hamas] used to tell me — ‘Oh, doesn’t matter. You’ll get a new wife. Get new kids. Better wife. Better kids.’”
American hostage Keith Siegel, who was freed in February, opened up about his time in captivity, claiming that Hamas sexually assaulted female hostages in front of him.
Siegel, who was originally held with his wife, Aviva, and other female and child hostages until her release after 51 days, said there was constant abuse in captivity.
“I witnessed a young woman who was being tortured by the terrorists. I mean literal, you know, torture, not just in the figurative sense,” he said. “I saw sexual assault with female hostages.”
Following Aviva’s release, Siegel said conditions became worse. He was often beaten and starved.
Siegel quickly put interviewer Lesley Stahl in her place after she asked if Hamas actually starved Siegel, or if the terrorists simply didn’t have food themselves.
“No, I think they starved me and they — they would often eat in front of me and not offer me food,” Siegel said.
Siegel also said that Hamas shaved all the men’s heads and genitals to humiliate them.
“I think they thought it was maybe it amused them or, you know, humiliating. I felt humiliated,” Siegel said.
Bibas delivered a heartbreaking eulogy for Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir last month after their bodies were returned from Hamas terrorists and officially identified.
“Shiri, this is the closest I’ve been to you since October 7th, and I can’t kiss or hug you, and it’s breaking me,” Bibas said, fighting back tears.
Bibas asked for forgiveness for what happened to the family on October 7. Shiri, 32, was taken hostage by Hamas and killed while in captivity, along with their sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were just four years old and eight months old when abducted by the terrorists.
The fully translated euology of Yarden Bibas to his wife Shiri, and sons Kfir and Ariel.
“Mi Amor”
I remember the first time I said “mi amor” to you. It was at the very beginning of our relationship. You told me to only call you that if I was certain I loved you, not to say it… pic.twitter.com/x7laGqM91T
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) February 26, 2025
“Do you remember our last decision together? In the safe room, I asked if we should ‘fight or surrender.’ You said fight, so I fought. Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have fired.”
The bodies of Ariel and Kfir were handed over last month, along with the corpses of Oded Lifshitz and an unknown Gazan woman that Hamas claimed was Shiri, after Hamas paraded them on stage in front of cheering crowds in a propaganda spectacle. Shiri’s body was later returned after an uproar over Hamas returning the wrong body.
The news of the death of the Bibas boys has sparked international outrage and brought the total number of children from Israel who have died in the fallout of the October 7 attacks to 55.
Footage of Shiri’s terrified face while holding the two redheaded boys went viral after October 7, making the family a symbol of the horror Hamas terrorists inflicted on Israeli civilians that day.
