Israelis hold a mass funeral for Shiri Bibas and her two sons killed in Gaza

RISHON LETZION, Israel — Ever since Shiri Bibas, 32, and her sons Ariel and Kfir, ages 4 and nine months, were taken hostage to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Israelis hoped they would be freed alive.

Instead, crowds gathered along roads and overpasses across the country Wednesday to observe the funeral procession of a mother and children killed while captive in Gaza — a family tragedy that has shattered the Israeli public after more than a year of war, with scores of Israelis still held hostage.

“I came after I didn’t sleep all night,” said Sarit Sheiman, a 49-year-old therapist, outside the funeral home where the procession began. “ I didn’t think that it would last 500 days, and this whole nightmare is going to be like routine for us.” She held a handwritten sign in Hebrew that said: Sorry, Shiri, that no one protected you.

Hamas says Shiri Bibas and her children were killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza more than a month into the Israel-Hamas war, though after their remains were returned to Israel and examined by a forensic team last week, Israeli officials said the three had been killed by their captors.

“ These monsters looked into the eyes of a 9-month-old baby and his 4-year-old brother, and strangled, beat, twisted, and shattered them with their hands,” said Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., in remarks to reporters.

The forensic report has not been made public, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have divulged details about their deaths, drawing a public rebuke from the children’s aunt. The family did not invite any Israeli government representative to the funeral.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, we haven’t received an apology from you in this terrible moment,” the aunt, Ofri Bibas, said in a video statement last week when Israel announced the Bibas hostages were dead.

Hamas released the wrong body at first

The father of the family, Yarden Bibas, was freed this month in a hostage-prisoner exchange after more than a year being held captive in Gaza.

Then, last week, the Palestinian militant group returned what it said were the remains of Shiri and her children, in a ceremony with masked gunmen, a banner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted as a fanged vampire, and crowds of onlookers.

But Hamas had handed over the remains of an anonymous Gazan woman instead of the Israeli mother, Israeli officials said. Hamas said there had been an error, and handed over the mother’s body a day later.

Israelis gathered along a long funeral procession route

The bodies were driven in a funeral procession from a funeral home in Rishon Letzion, a city in central Israel, to a cemetery in southern Israel near the kibbutz community along the Gaza border where the Bibas family lived and were taken hostage.

Outside the funeral home, Israelis lining the road cried, holding handwritten signs that said “sorry,” and quietly sung the Israeli national anthem, as a convoy of black vehicles with tinted windows passed slowly.

“Through the window, I see a broken country. We will not rise, and we will not heal until the last hostage is home,” wrote Ofri Bibas, sister of bereaved father Yarden, in a social media post.

The funeral was closed to the public, at the request of the family. Eulogies were broadcast live on Israeli television.

“Ariel, I hope you’re not angry with me for failing to protect you properly and for not being there for you,” Yarden Bibas said in a eulogy for his 4-year-old son. “I hope you’re enjoying heaven.”

Yanal Jabarin in Jerusalem contributed to this report.