The fate of Ariel and Kfir, just four years old and nine months old when they were abducted, captivated Israelis, and the return, along with a body said to be that of their mother, Shiri Bibas, brings a tragic measure of closure to the country.

The mother and children were taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Video of the abduction, with a terrified Shiri Bibas seen swaddling her two redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men, ricocheted around the world in the hours after the attack.

Yarden Bibas, the father, was abducted and held separately and released on February 1, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that paused the 15-month-long war in Gaza. During the first phase, a total of 33 hostages are to be freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight of those 33 were said by Israel to be dead.

Since his release, Yarden Bibas has pleaded for information about his family, whose fate has been unclear for much of the war.

While Hamas last year released a video of Yarden Bibas in captivity as a sign of life, nothing had been heard from his wife or children. The militant group claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the first weeks of the war, and filmed Yarden Bibas receiving the news. Israel did not confirm the claim, saying just that it had “grave concern” for their lives.

The bodies released on Thursday will now be formally identified, which could take up to 48 hours.

Bibas boys became icons and plight transfixed Israelis

The Bibas family’s struggle became a rallying cry for protesters demanding the hostages be freed. Concern for their wellbeing emerged during a November 2023 ceasefire, when most women and children were freed, and grew in recent weeks when living women hostages were freed.

At just nine months old, Kfir was the youngest of about 30 children taken hostage on October 7. The infant with red hair and a toothless smile became an icon across Israel and his ordeal was raised by Israeli leaders on podiums around the world.

The extended Bibas family has been active at protests, branding the color orange as the symbol of their fight for the “ginger babies”. They marked Kfir Bibas’ first birthday with a release of orange balloons and lobbied world leaders for support.

Family photos aired on TV and posted across social media created a national bond with the two boys and made them familiar faces. Israelis learned of Ariel Bibas’ love for Batman and photos from a happier time showed the entire family dressed up as the character.

The Hostages Families Forum said there were more hostages in Gaza whose lives could still be saved, and called for an extension to the ceasefire.

“There is no more time to waste,” it said in a statement.

Gate of young boys and mother was unclear

The lack of information about Shiri Bibas and her children created uncertainty and ambiguity, including among their relatives.

Shiri Bibas’ sister, Dana Silberman-Sitton, has said she did not believe her sister or the children were still alive. She told Israeli news site Ynet that she decided to tell her children in December 2023 that Aunt Shiri and their cousins had died, after Hamas claimed they were killed by Israeli airstrikes.

“I created a defence mechanism for myself: Because I cannot live with uncertainty anymore, I live with the knowledge that Shiri and the kids are dead,” she told Ynet in September.

Silberman-Sitton’s parents, Yossi and Margit Silberman, were also killed on October 7, 2023, at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Yarden Bibas’ sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, took the opposite approach: She insisted that Shiri and the children were still alive, travelled abroad on missions and gave numerous interviews to ensure their story was constantly being mentioned.

The story of the family captured Israel’s attention and much of the world because it encapsulated many of the worst aspects of Hamas’ attack, explained Ruth Pat-Horenczyk, a professor at the Hebrew University school of social work who specialises in trauma.

“The graphic scene of the mother trying to protect the two babies was burned into the mind in the country,” she said.

“Everything together created a kind of capsulated example of pain that really became the most dramatic symbol of October 7.”