Fresh blow for family of Kfir Bibas as Hamas offer to exchange three hostages' bodies a day after claiming the baby, his brother and mother were killed in Israeli bombardment

The family of Kfir Bibas, a baby who was snatched and taken into Gaza by Hamas, faced yet more anguish today after the terrorists offered to hand over the bodies of three hostages to Israel.

Hamas claimed that Israel had refused its offer to hand over the three bodies without naming the dead. 

But it comes a day after the terrorists claimed - without providing evidence - that the ten-month-old, his four-year-old brother Ariel and his mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, were killed in an Israeli bombardment before Friday's truce was announced. 

Kfir's father Yarden, 34, who was also taken hostage by the terrorists, was not mentioned in the statement.

The Israeli military said yesterday it is checking the claims by Hamas that the little baby was killed alongside his mother and brother while they were being kept hostage by the terrorists.

The IDF, which slammed Hamas as 'cruel and inhuman', said they have spoken to the Bibas family about the claims, which are massively overshadowing last-minute negotiations to extend the truce further. 

Last night, Kfir's anguished family expressed hope that Hamas' claims that the trio had been killed will be found to be a lie, saying they are waiting for the allegations to be refuted by Israeli military officials.

But today, Hamas appeared to suggest they are willing to hand over their bodies after saying it had offered to exchange three hostages' bodies. The terrorists claimed Israel had refused their offer. 

The terrorists failed to name the dead in their statement and if their claims do turn out to be untrue, it will be another example of the cruel mind games used by the terrorists ever since they launched their barbaric assault on Israel.

The world watched in horror on October 7 when footage emerged of Hamas terrorists dragging Shiri and her young family from their home in Nir Oz Kibbutz towards a waiting motorbike. 

Video showed the sobbing mother clutching onto Kfir and Ariel as they were kidnapped, as horrified neighbours screamed: 'She has a baby.' 

The family has not been heard from since but there were hopes that they would be released by Hamas as part of a prisoner exchange during the truce between Israel and the terrorist group. 

But Hamas claimed yesterday - without providing evidence - that Kfir, Shiri and Ariel were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in the days before the truce was announced.  

If it is true, that claim could provoke an explosive reaction from Israel as the family were among the highest-profile civilian hostages yet to be freed. 

Previously, there were fears that nine-year-old Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand had been killed by Hamas terrorists but she was later found to be alive. The schoolgirl, who spent her ninth birthday in captivity, has since been released.

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