Thousands at funeral procession of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas

About a week after they were returned from Hamas captivity, Shiri, Ariel and Kfar Bibas will be laid to rest. Thousands of people are out to the intersections where their coffins will pass, to pay their respects. The funeral ceremony will be held in the presence of guests only, but the eulogies will be broadcast live.

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz in the October 7 massacre, will be laid to rest on Wednesday, about a week after their coffins were returned from Hamas captivity.

Their funeral procession will start from Chevra Kadisha in Rishon LeZion, where hundreds of people arrived with "Sorry" signs - and will reach the Sha'ar Hanegev junction. Thousands wait at intersections along the road with Israeli flags and orange balloons to pay their last respects.

On the road between Rishon Lezion and Sha'ar Hanegev Junction, the coffins will pass through the Rishonim Interchange, the Yavne Interchange Bridge, the Ad Halom Bridge, the Nitzanim Junction, the Yad Mordechai Junction and the Nir Am Junction.

"The thousands who came here want to give a last accompaniment, a last hug, to the symbol of all the hostages," said Rishon LeZion Mayor Raz Kinstlich.

Schedule and route of the convoy:

07:45 - Chevra Kadisha Rishon Lezion, 1 Ahad Ha'am Street / Gan HaBanim Rishon LeZion.

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08:15 - Yavne Interchange Bridge.

08:30 - Ad Halom Bridge / Nitzanim Junction / Silver Junction.

08:45 - Yad Mordechai Junction.

09:00 - Nir Am Junction.

09:15 - Sha'ar Hanegev Junction (Arches).

Bibas funeral procession (Photo: Yossi Aloni/ Flash90)

The Knesset building was lit up yesterday with orange lights, and at 11:00 a.m., Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana will open the plenary session with a minute of silence in memory of Kfir, Ariel, Shiri Bibas and Oded Lifshitz, who were murdered in captivity, and in memory of all those murdered and fallen on October 7, 2023, and throughout the "Iron Sword" war.

At the request of the Bibas family, the funeral ceremony itself will be limited and will take place in the presence of invitees only, but the eulogies will be broadcast to the general public at 11:30 a.m. No government or Knesset representatives were invited to the funeral, and in Rishon Lezion, Education Minister Yoav Kisch was booed.

The body of Shiri Bibas was identified at the Institute of Forensic Medicine on the night between Friday and Saturday, after it was transferred from Hamas to the Red Cross with a delay of a day, after the terror organization first transferred a coffin containing the body of a Gaza woman, claiming that "it is possible that the remains of Shiri Bibas mixed with other remains." The day before, the bodies of her young children, Kfir and Ariel, were identified at the Institute.

According to the IDF's assessment, based on intelligence and forensic findings, the three were murdered by their captors in the first weeks of the war. IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari stressed that contrary to Hamas' claims, they were not killed in an airstrike, but rather "brutally murdered in cold blood."