Fundraiser for freed Hamas hostage Yarden Bibas reaches over $1.4 million within hours

The final amount is expected to far surpass the original goal of 5 million shekels (US$1.371.086).

By Kostis Konstantinou, TPS

A fundraising campaign for Hamas captivity survivor Yarden Bibas has raised over $1.4 million in less than 24 hours.

The campaign was launched by Eli Bibas to help his son Yarden, 35, rebuild his life after he survived 16 months in horrific captivity.

Yarden’s wife, Shiri, 32, and two baby sons — Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months — were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after just one month of being held in Gaza. Yarden only learned of their deaths upon his release on February 1.

The young family were snatched from their home in the Nir Oz Kibbutz, close to the Israeli border, on October 7 2023, after terrorists from the Gaza strip infiltrated and attacked Israel.

The fundraiser was shared online at 19:30 IST on Saturday and within hours, the amount skyrocketed due to the generosity of donations from both within Israel and globally.

The final amount is expected to far surpass the original goal of 5 million shekels (US$1.371.086).

Eli Bibas wrote on the page: “For 484 days, Yarden waited for the moment he would be freed and finally return to life and embrace his family again. Almost 500 days in Hamas captivity – each minute there felt like an eternity.

“More than anything, he longed to see Shiri again, hold Ariel, and lift Kfir, his baby, into his arms. But instead of reuniting with them, he was released into a cruel and heartbreaking reality – the worst nightmare imaginable.

“Only after his release did Yarden learn the devastating truth – his entire world had been murdered in captivity. He lost his family, his home, his belongings – he lost everything. And now, we are here to help him rebuild from the ashes.

“Yarden’s recovery is a long, complex, and painful journey. Beyond the unbearable grief, he must rebuild his life from nothing physically, emotionally, and financially. He has no home, no stability – and each day brings new, unexpected challenges.

“He needs professional support, mental health assistance, and financial resources to gradually regain a sense of normalcy and one day, he hopes to fulfill his dream – to establish a memorial for Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir.”

Moshe Minaker, a spokesperson for US-based Lehosheet Yad, the charity that helped the campaign, told TPS-IL: “The overwhelming support from people worldwide has been incredible and we are confident that we will reach our goal in the coming hours.”

At the beginning of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the charity launched an ongoing project called “Returning to Life” to assist all the children and families who returned from Hamas captivity.

The bodies of Kfir, Ariel, and Shiri were returned to Israel last month as part of the fragile hostage deal between the terror group and Israel.

In further insult to their memory, Hamas did not initially return the body of Shiri, instead handing over the body of an unidentified woman. The terror group claimed it was a mistake before returning Shiri’s body the next day.

An Israeli inspection of the corpses concluded the infants had been strangled with bare hands and Shiri had been “brutally murdered” and shot.

All three were laid to rest in a single cask together, next to Shiri’s parents Yossi and Margit Silberman, who were also murdered by Hamas on the same day that the Bibas family were taken into Gaza.

The funeral of Shiri and her two sons was attended by thousands of mourning Israelis who lined the streets in emotional scenes, as the family was laid to rest at a cemetery in Southern Israel, close to the kibbutz where they’d lived.

At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7 2023. Of the 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.

The fundraiser can be accessed on the following link: https://yad.reachhands.com/bibasussh