JSR Portraits

​On the day of the attack, Yarden Bibas was reportedly texting with his sister to update her on the status of fighting at and around the Nir Oz Kibbutz. At around 6:30 am, he sent her an update which included rocket fire, and then that the militants had entered the kibbutz with concern that his children did not know how to keep quiet. By about 9:45, he sent "They're in" shortly after having sent "I love you" to his family. Yarden had reportedly first believed that the rocket fire was "just another bombing" and had hesitated to use the gun in the home due to the number of militants with automatic weapons.

 

During the attack, members of the Bibas family were kidnapped and taken hostage by Hamas from their home in kibbutz Nir Oz to the Gaza Strip. These included Shiri and Yarden Bibas, and their children Ariel and Kfir, aged 4 years and 9 months respectively. Yarden was rekeased as part of Gaza war cease fire and Israeli–Palestinian prisoner exchange in February of 2025. At this time, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir's bodies were returned with Hamas claiming that they had been killed by an Israeli bombing. Autopsies determined that they had been brutally murdered by Hamas​​