Cousin of Shiri Bibas kidnapped with her two children by Hamas believes hostages are alive

A cousin of Shiri Bibas and her two ginger-haired children told The Post he believes the three hostages are alive after 500 days in Hamas captivity — and he “will not stop fighting” until they’re released.“I believe they’re alive,” Yosi Shnaider said Friday of his cousin, Shiri, 33, and her children, Ariel, 5, and Kfir, 2, who became symbols of the Oct.7, 2023 attacks when video of their abduction from their southern Israel kibbutz — with the terrified mother clutching her babies — went viral.It’s a sentiment their dad, Yarden Bibas, 35, who was released from captivity on Feb.

1, wants to believe.“I don’t want to answer in his place, but we’re all optimistic,” Shnaider told The Post by phone from his native Israel.The father was told while being held hostage that Shiri and the boys were killed — a claim Hamas made publicly in November 2023.“He believed them,” said Shnaider, 46. “But he kept hope that they’re lying.”Bibas, who returned from 16 months of hell to another hell of not knowing the fate of his family, immediately asked about his wife and children after he was released.“We told him the truth – that we don’t know,” Shnaider said.

“We have nothing.”Israel has not been able to confirm their deaths.Further clouding the mystery, the terror group included their names on its initial list of captives to be freed.Under the terms of the cease-fire deal, living women and children were supposed to be freed first, and the bodies of deceased hostages last – raising grave concerns about what has happened to the mom and kids.“It’s still unclear if Hamas or another Palestinian terrorist organization is holding the rest of the Bibas family,” said Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at the DC think tank Foundation for Defending Democracy.

Earlier in the war, a Hamas ally was said to be holding them.“Hamas understands the Bibas family is very important to Israel,” he added.“It wouldn’t surprise me that ...