Request for emergency Security Council meeting: the case of the Bibas family – Letter from Israel (S/2025/111)

21 February 2025

Identical letters dated 21 February 2025 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

Yesterday marked 502 days since the tragic morning of 7 October 2023, when Hamas’s terrorists launched a brutal attack on Israeli civilians, committing an abhorrent massacre across southern Israel and kidnapping innocent civilians.

I wish to bring to your attention the particularly horrific case of the Bibas family from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Shiri Bibas, a young mother, was brutally taken hostage and alive, along with her two beautiful children: 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir. Their father, Yarden, was abducted separately and injured while attempting to protect his family. Since that day, footage of their kidnapping has been used as a weapon of psychological warfare.

For over 16 months, the international community witnessed Hamas’s ruthless exploitation of the Bibas family through propaganda. In one particularly cruel instance, Yarden was coerced into appearing in a video after being told of his family’s alleged deaths. Yarden was ultimately released on 1 February 2025, only to confront an even more devastating reality about the fate of his family.

Yesterday, 20 February, as part of the ceasefire agreement, the terrorist organization Hamas was obligated to return four deceased hostages, among them the bodies of Ariel, Kfir and Shiri Bibas.

Following the identification process by the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with the Israel Police, it was confirmed that Ariel and Kfir Bibas had been identified. According to the forensic evidence, it can be confirmed that baby Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, and his older brother Ariel, aged 4, were both brutally murdered by terrorists while being held hostage in Gaza already in November 2023.

Contrary to Hamas’s claims, Ariel and Kfir were not killed in an air strike. Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered in cold blood by terrorists. The two young boys were not shot; they were murdered by the terrorists with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities. This assessment is based on forensic findings and intelligence that supports these conclusions. We have shared this intelligence and the forensic findings with our partners around the world so they can verify it and the entire world can witness the extent of Hamas’s boundless depravity.

Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel propaganda act in Gaza. However, Shiri Bibas, whose body was meant to be returned with her children to Israel, was not returned by Hamas. Worse still, Hamas not only failed to return Shiri but also attempted to deceive the family, the State of Israel and the international community by falsely claiming that the body they provided was hers. Upon investigation, it was determined that the body Hamas returned was not Shiri’s, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, they sent over the body of an unidentified woman. Beyond the inhumanity, this is an unambiguous violation of the ceasefire agreement – a deliberate betrayal by Hamas.

According to the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas was obligated to return all hostages, including the Bibas family. The fact that they returned only the bodies of Ariel and Kfir while failing to return Shiri clearly illustrates their contempt for their obligations and for basic human decency, and is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement, further demonstrating Hamas’s complete disregard for international law and any basic standards of morality and humanity.

This despicable violation by Hamas is a stark reminder of their barbaric nature. They did not only fail to uphold the terms of the agreement; they mocked it, turning a solemn exchange into another opportunity for cruelty and manipulation. This cannot and must not be tolerated. Hamas must be held accountable for this flagrant breach of trust and for their continued exploitation of hostages.

The systematic torture, murder and psychological warfare inflicted upon the Bibas family exposes the true nature of Hamas. Released hostages continue to recount harrowing experiences of physical abuse, starvation, sexual violence and the constant threat of execution.

We demand that Hamas return Shiri Bibas back to her family, to be reunited with her two dead children, along with all remaining hostages – whether they are alive or dead – still in the cruel hands of Hamas. We call upon the Security Council to condemn in the strongest of terms the brutal murder of the Bibas family and Hamas’s manipulation in the case of the return of Shiri Bibas’s body. We further wish to express our disappointment that we have not yet heard any such condemnation from the Security Council on this most egregious matter.

In light of the aforementioned facts, I demand an emergency meeting of the Security Council in accordance with Articles 34 and 35 of the Charter of the United Nations, to be scheduled at the earliest possible date.

I also respectfully urge the Security Council to take decisive action to condemn Hamas for its ongoing violations and to immediately designate it, along with the PIJ and all other Palestinian armed groups, as terrorist organizations.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter distributed as a document of the Security Council.

I would like to inform you that an identical letter has been sent to Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

(Signed) Danny Danon

Ambassador

Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations