This was for the simple reason that the four women β Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag and Karina Ariev β were serving as IDF soldiers when they were captured , and although the exact terms of the deal have not been made public, it is widely understood that it stipulates that female civilians should be released first.
Where were the seven remaining female non-combatants from the list of 33, the public demanded. Two names in particular were loud amid the clamour: one, an individual, year-old Arbel Yehoud; the other, a whole family, of the name Bibas. Video taken at the slaughterhouse that became Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct 7 showed a distraught Shiri Silberman Bibas clutching her red-headed children, four-year-old Ariel and newborn Kfir, as Hamas terrorists corralled her into captivity.
Hamas later claimed that the mother was killed alongside her children in an IDF bombardment. Mystery has surrounded their wellbeing ever since. The world held its breath, conscious that the deal upon which so much hope for peace is invested might well fail to live into its second week. However, late on Sunday night, Hamas announced that β in exchange, of course, for a proportionate number of Palestinian prisoners β it would release a further three Israelis this Thursday , in addition to another three scheduled for the following Saturday.
Consequently, Monday morning brought reports that the IDF was withdrawing from key security posts on the Netzarim corridor, the narrow fortified strip of land that runs across the centre of Gaza. Soon, the pictures flooded in of Palestinians heading back to the north, with family members embracing, having been cut off from each other for more than a year. Hamas β reportedly with the assistance of outside mediators β appeared to have realised that the Israelis had a point. Consequently, far from falling apart, the deal appeared to be accelerating.
The fact that, again, a soldier β although female, although young β was being prioritised ahead of Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two small children, appeared to be a very bad sign. That has been our approach until now, and it will remain so. We continue to hope. It was aimed principally, of course, at Hamas. But, perhaps, also at Netanyahu. Was Hamas right all along? Had the two tiny children and their mother tragically perished in an IDF bombardment in the early weeks of the war? Why had those two red-headed icons never appeared on any list of captured minors?
