Hostage Father Sobs in Hamas Video After Being Told His Abducted Family Is Dead

Hamas released a heartrending propaganda video Thursday showing Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas breaking down in tears upon learning from the terrorists holding him that his 10-month and 4-year-old sons had been killed along with his wife during their captivity in Gaza.

In the harrowing video, which The Messenger is not publishing, Yarden claims that the three bodies that Hamas offered to Israel as part of Thursday's hostage exchange were in fact those of his family: his wife Shiri, 10-month-old son Kfir, and his older brother Ariel, 4.

Israel refused to accept the bodies as part of the deal, reportedly because they would have taken the place of three living hostages.

Hamas earlier claimed that the Bibas brothers and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

While Israel has not confirmed the status of the Bibas family, the IDF said in a statement Wednesday that it was "examining the reliability of the information" before adding: "The responsibility for the safety of all the abductees and abductees in the Gaza Strip lies fully with the terrorist organization Hamas."

The IDF added on Thursday that the claims of the family's deaths were still unverified, calling the hostage video "psychological terrorism."

In its own statement, the Bibas family said it was waiting for Israeli military authorities to either confirm or refute Hamas' reports.

"We thank the Israeli people for the warm embrace but we ask to maintain our privacy in this very complex moment," the family said on Wednesday.

In the clip released by Hamas, a distraught Yarden, wearing a black t-shirt with an unkempt beard, pleads with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow the bodies of his wife and sons to be brought back for burial in Israel.

Yarden was supposed to be transferred with the bodies on Thursday, but negotiations fell apart at the last minute, according to reports in Israeli media.

Kfir and Ariel Bibas, with their shocks of red hair and boyish smiles, have become internationally synonymous with the brutality of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks.

The Bibas family was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the Gaza border on Oct. 7.

Ten-month-old Kfir – the youngest of about 30 children who were taken hostage – had just learned to crawl before he was kidnapped along with his older brother.

As she waited for the latest hostage lists to be released on Wednesday, Yifat Zailer, Shiri's cousin, told the New York Times said the daily ordeal this week has been "this horrible mathematical equation."

“Our hearts skip a beat every time,” Zailer said. “It’s really hard to breathe.”

Even with the latest hostage releases set for Thursday, Israeli officials said there are still at least three children and 22 women held in captivity in Gaza, along with 131 men.