The Israeli army said Wednesday that it was looking into a tip from Hamas’ armed wing that a 10-month-old infant captive, his four-year-old brother, and their mother had all been killed in Gaza.
The military was “assessing the accuracy of the information”, it said in a statement.
“Hamas is wholly responsible for the security of all hostages in the Gaza Strip,” it added. “Hamas’s actions continue to endanger the hostages, which include nine children.”
Due to the age of infant Kfir, the Bibas family is one of the most visible captives taken in the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7.
The Israeli military statement came after the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed branch, said that Kfir, his brother Ariel, and their mother Shiri had been murdered in an Israeli bombardment in Gaza before the current cease-fire took effect.
It made no mention of the boys’ father Yarden.
Bassem Naim, a Hamas leader and former Gaza health minister, confirmed later Wednesday at a press conference in Cape Town that the three family members had died.
“We have confirmed two to three weeks ago that 60 Israelis have been killed under Israeli bombardment and are still under the rubble,” Naim said.
“The woman and her two children are among them, I can confirm that.”
So far, there has been no verification of Hamas’s tally of Israeli hostages killed.
A statement released on behalf of relatives by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said they could only wait for further information.
“Our family has learned of Hamas’s latest claims. We are waiting for the information to be confirmed and hopefully refuted by military officials,” they said.
Images depicting the kidnapping of a newborn from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel have become emblems of the fatal assault.
The photographs showed the mother, her face distorted with sorrow, clutching her two small red-headed boys against her.
Their father was also photographed being led by armed Hamas members into the Gaza Strip, his head covered in blood.
According to army spokesman Daniel Hagari, the family is being held by a Palestinian party other than Hamas.
Yarden’s sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, told AFP at a Tel Aviv protest on Tuesday that the family’s fate was “directly in the hands of Hamas.”
“Hamas took them and Hamas is required to bring them back now,” she said.
Shiri’s sister, Dana Siton, adding that their lives were in “immediate danger… each passing day endangers them.”
Nutritionists quoted by Israeli media have emphasized the dangers of imprisonment for a baby of 10 months, when youngsters are transitioning to solid meals.
In a previous example, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group affiliated with Hamas, reported the death of a hostage who was later freed.