The Bibas family and older residents of southern Israel became among the best-known people abducted on October 7, 2023. Yarden Bibas returned alive in February 2025, Israeli authorities identified the remains of his sons Ariel and Kfir later that month, and their mother Shiri remains missing.
The Bibas family from Nir Oz
Hamas abducted Yarden Bibas from Kibbutz Nir Oz separately from his wife Shiri and their sons Ariel, then four, and Kfir, then ten months old. Yarden returned to Israel on February 1, 2025, after 484 days in captivity, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health. On February 20, Israeli authorities identified the bodies of Ariel and Kfir after their return. The IDF statement published by Israel's Foreign Ministry said the assessment, based on intelligence and forensic findings, was that the boys were murdered in captivity in November 2023. The additional body handed over at the time was not Shiri's, and officials said no match had been found for her.
Older hostages from Nir Oz
Adina Moshe, 72, was taken from Nir Oz and released on November 24, 2023. In an interview recounted by The Times of Israel, she said she and other captives walked for five hours through underground passages to a room where they were held. She described small portions of canned food and rice, a room lit by a small LED, and guards nearby.
Alex Dancyg, 75, was a Holocaust educator abducted from Nir Oz. The biographical account of Dancyg records that the IDF announced his death in July 2024 and recovered his body from a tunnel in Khan Younis the following month, along with five other hostages. An IDF investigation determined the six had been shot by their captors in mid-February 2024. Dancyg's life included decades of teaching Polish students about Jewish history and the Holocaust.
Hostage releases and survivor accounts
For the diplomatic path to releases, see how Qatar and Egypt mediated releases; for accounts by survivors, see what released hostages said about captivity.