BABY Kfir Bibas was seen alive in Hamas captivity for the first time after 135 days of war in Gaza.
Hopes for more answers are high after Israel released CCTV footage taken hours after the one-year-old baby, his brother Ariel and mum Shiri were kidnapped on October 7.
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The IDF published the footage after getting permission from the Bibas family, who have already seen the clip, The Times of Israel reports.
The video appears to show a woman carrying a child as she is escorted by a group of men, who place a blanket around her.
A spokesperson for the Bibas family said: “You can see the family arriving in Gaza alive, and Hamas is the one solely responsible for the safety of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir.”
In January, a somber birthday ceremony was held for baby Kfir, who turned one while held captive in Gaza.
Orange balloons – a nod to Kfir’s ginger hair – a teddy bear cake and his pictures stood in the abandoned Nir Oz kindergarten, 101 days after terrorists kidnapped him on October 7.
The baby would have now spent a third of his life as a hostage.
He was only eight months old when Hamas terrorists stormed stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 in their cross-border bloodbath in Israel.
Kfir has since become Hamas’s youngest out of 240 people kidnapped by the terror group and taken back to Gaza as captives.
Hamas previously said that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri were killed in the Israeli offensive that ensued, while their father, Yarden, survived.
But the IDF has said that the claim is unverified.
Relatives and friends back home have refused to let hope die for the whole family’s safe recovery.
“We’re marking a birthday for a kid who’s not here,” Shiri’s cousin, Yosi Shnaider, told Reuters ahead of baby Kfir’s birthday.
“We make him a cake, we put up balloons, pictures, and blessings and everything and he’s not here. It’s crazy.”
In December, baby Kfir was meant to be released alongside his mum and brother before terrorists “decided not to do this”, the IDF said.
Israel recovered around half of the hostages in a November truce, during which the baby boy’s aunt, Ofri Bibas, begged for his immediate release.
Ofri begged for their safe return and told local media: “At the moment they are the youngest hostages still remaining in Hamas captivity.
“We don’t know where they’ve been held. From what we know, they are kept underground.
“We’re really worried about the 10-month-old baby with formula as the main diet.”
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Ofri added: “We call upon the Israeli government and Qatar and Egypt, everybody who is involved in these negotiations and this deal, to do whatever they can to include our family in this deal and to release them as soon as possible.”
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