Israel mourns death of two youngest Hamas hostages; people wear orange bands

1. Israel mourns death of two youngest Hamas hostages; people wear orange bands

Israel mourns death of two youngest Hamas hostages; people wear orange bands ByHT News Desk Feb 22, 2025 04:37 PM IST Share Via Copy Link Hamas handed over five Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners

Israel mourned the death of the two youngest hostages – Ariel Bibas (4 years old) and Kfir Bibas (10 months old) – by wearing orange-coloured articles. The colour represents the bright red hair of the deceased children.

A woman mourns in a memorial for deceased hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir and Oded Lifshitz at 'Hostages Square, where Israelis are gathering while waiting for the release of six hostages in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday.(AP)

The Jewish state was stuck with sorrow on Friday after Hamas returned the corpses of the child and the infant. “The colour orange will never be the same for us,” Israel's official account wrote on social platform X.

Display pictures of official Israeli accounts have also been changed to the colour orange to reflect a state of sorrow. The Israel Embassy in Cyprus lit their buildings in orange in solidarity with the Bibas family and Israeli victims of terror.

“The embassy of Israel in Cyprus is illuminated in orange in memory of the murdered children of the Bibas family, Ariel and Kfir, and all the victims of Hamas terrorism. May their memory be a blessing,” said Rotem Segev, the Deputy Ambassador of Israel in Cyprus, on X.

North Macedonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade also lit its building in orange to signify solidarity with Israel.

“These two days, the @MFA_MKD building is lit in orange - a gesture of solidarity with the Bibas family and Israeli victims of terror. We reaffirm our commitment to a peaceful resolution, the safe return of hostages, and stand against violence on civilians,” the ministry wrote on X.

Buildings in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, were also lit in orange.

The Palestinian militant group freed five out of the six Israeli hostages scheduled to be released on Saturday as part of the phase one ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Tal Shoham and Averu Mengistu were freed during an exchange ceremony on Saturday in southern Gaza's Rafah. The two were handed over to the Red Cross, which handed them over to the Israeli authorities.

Later, three more hostages – Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert – were handed over to the Red Cross in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners from Israel.